


The Peterless Plan

by Basmathgirl



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Fright Night (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, F/M, Pregnancy, Season/Series 04, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-02 02:59:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5231342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basmathgirl/pseuds/Basmathgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During her travels searching for the Doctor, Donna Noble encountered a magician called Peter Vincent in Las Vegas, and had a torrid but brief affair with him. When Peter accidentally bumps into the Doctor, he realises that Donna might have chosen him for other reasons and storms off, leaving Donna alone at the motel. Undeterred, she continues with her quest despite the consequences.<br/>[This is an alternative sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/1409218">Doctor In Cloverfield</a> but it is not necessary to read that first, and this is able to stand alone]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** I don’t own anything beyond a couple of DVDs.  
>  **A/N:** This is an alternative timeline sequel to [Doctor In Cloverfield](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1409218) and the [The Peter Chronicles](http://archiveofourown.org/series/31803) series, taking the premise in a different direction.

Previously:

There was the sound of fists pounding on the motel door. Donna opened it with relief when she realised it was Peter returning; until she noticed his face was like thunder. “What happened? Did the meeting go badly? How badly?” she wanted to know.

“This is a waste of time,” he told her.

“What is? I don’t understand,” she said, reaching out to him.

He shook her off. “You, me; this! A whole f*cking waste of time,” he blurted out.

She stared at him in shock. “Tell me what happened. I demand to know what has caused this change in you, because this isn’t you. This is bonkers!”

He laughed emptily and then rounded on her. “Yes; f*cking bonkers just about sums it up!” Pacing up and down, he tried to release his pent up rage. “You were never going to stay with me. I’m not sure that you even really saw me! You only wanted HIM!”

“What the bloody hell are you going on about? Are you digging up that again; and what do you mean by not seeing you?” she queried.

“This!” he declared, pointing at his face. “I look exactly the same as him, and you knew it!”

She gasped in surprise; because he had found out, and because that also meant that… “Where is he? Tell me where he is,” she implored him. “Please, Peter.”

“No!” he yelled, and raised his hand as though he was going to strike her. They panted at each other in shock and horror, and then she was running for the door. “NO!” he screamed, grasping desperately for her hand. “Please, Donna! Please!”

She fought him off. “I’ve got to find him. Get off me!”

He rugby tackled her to the floor. “No, Donna. He said it’s the wrong time,” he insisted more quietly but with the same amount of vehemence.

She slapped him hard. “I hate you!” she spat out and raced for the bathroom in tears.

“Join the f*cking club,” he replied to himself.

When she emerged from the bathroom half an hour later, Peter had gone.

~~~~

  


Donna emerged from the motel bathroom to find the room was empty. Surely Peter wouldn’t abandon her in the middle of nowhere, would he? In desperation, she made for the door and thrust it open. The parking lot was completely empty; he’d gone.

The bastard! The utter bastard!

She stood on the wooden veranda and yelled as loudly as she possibly could. She screamed, stamped her feet, hit the door frame; did anything to release her rage from wanting to kill Peter Vincent!

Thank God she knew there was a diner just down the road. Somebody passing through there might be able to give her a lift into the city, or at least point her in the right direction. As for that jealous wanker Peter Vincent: he could burn in hell…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Donna felt like utter crap. Not exactly unusual when you’re heartbroken because some bloke in skinny jeans dumps you in the middle of nowhere after you’ve had some truly spectacular sex. It wasn’t just the sex, if she was honest, but the fact she had grown to quite like Peter despite her better judgement.

Judgement! Who was she kidding? It was Lance all over again; some bloke is nice to her for five seconds and she’s pledging her life to him. Well, this was the last time anyone got away with that line! Donna Noble was fine without all that.

Except she wasn’t; she felt sick! As soon as she thought it, she had to race to the bathroom and throw up. Fortunately she felt instantly better, so it was probably one of those twenty-four hour tummy bugs that went around every so often. And all the stress of crying secretly in her room wasn’t doing her any good. Her period was late for a start. Peter Vincent had a lot to answer for… well, he would if she’d actually talk to him and listen to the lies he wanted to tell her. 

Sixteen text messages he had sent her; the cheek! And numerous voice messages were in her voice mail. She had ceremoniously deleted every single one of them without giving him the satisfaction of hearing one word. Not one. Although she would have had to listen to every other word, since the bloke’s vocabulary was seriously stunted by his need to punctuate his speech with swear words. She had several happy moments imagining trying to curb his swearing by applying a well-placed cattle prod!

That would teach him to abandon her like that, for smiling seductively, for having such sexy eyes, for being long and lean, and a fantastic lover once she slowed him down, so that she screamed out almost as much as he had done… Damn Peter Vincent and his gorgeous body! Why did he have to spoil it like that?

If he hadn’t been so bloody jealous of her searching for the Doctor they could have been something special. Why did she care so much? And why couldn’t she stop crying? He was just a bloke after all, and she would beat this feeling; eventually.

It would serve Peter right if she were to go out this minute and find the Doctor. Hah! She’d show him that she didn’t need a man in her life. Once she finished sobbing on her bed…

Wilf tapped on Donna’s bedroom door. “Donna, love?! Are you coming down for a bite to eat?” he called out hopefully.

Donna opened her door a smidge to peep out at him. “No thanks, Gramps. I’m not hungry. Tell Mum I’ll do myself something later,” she said, trying to pacify him enough to leave her alone.

He really was worried about her. Donna looked so gaunt and world-weary since she came back from the States. It was supposed to be a happy little holiday, with a bit of alien hunting on the side. One minute she was phoning up in high spirits because she had made a friend called Peter who was helping her, then she rang again to say how great he was for rescuing her, and then she had phoned in tears, calling him all the names under the sun. Why she should be upset because he had sent flowers to her room and had tried to contact her numerous times since she got home was beyond Wilf; but he was sure she had her reasons. Sylvia had no idea either, though she had plenty of theories where Donna had gone wrong with the bloke.

“What’s the matter with you, Donna? Throwing away a decent man like that!” Sylvia had demanded from her soon after Donna had got home from Las Vegas, and the desperate phonecalls had started from Peter. “Talk to him; that’s all I ask. Give him a chance.”

“No, Mum! You don’t understand. I’m finished with him and his petty jealousy. He swanned off and left me to get back to Vegas on my own. Nobody treats me like that,” she had replied defiantly.

Sylvia had huffed a loud sigh. “Just don’t go telling me you regret it later on; that’s all I ask,” she had said, realising she had lost the argument. Donna was right; no one should treat her like that, and if Peter Vincent ever turned up on her doorstep she’d wipe the floor clean with him.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It had finally happened! She was officially sitting in the TARDIS and loving it. In fact, Donna wanted to squeal with happiness! Everything in her room was just perfect, from the décor to the bed she was testing out.

The Doctor peeked in through her open bedroom door. “Everything alright, Donna?” he queried.

She almost bounced off her bed to answer him. “Oh yes! Everything is perfect. Look! I’ve got a large wardrobe, a dressing table, loads of books, and… get this... an en suite,” she enthused, pointing out every single item to him. 

“Yes, I can see,” he replied, trying to contain his own enthusiasm. “Do you want to have the grand tour of the place?”

“Yes please!” she instantly answered with glee; and the pair of them happily walked around the TARDIS for the rest of the evening.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The following morning Donna was feeling decidedly queasy; there was no other way to describe it. Oh heck! She thought she had left this feeling behind when she had come on board. Perhaps a decent breakfast would be the cure? Yes, she was sure it would be; so she kept her dodgy stomach to herself and went in search of the Doctor.

The queasiness didn’t go away, but she had plenty to distract her as they raced through the hot and steamy streets of ancient Pompeii. Funny how being trapped in a pod within an exploding volcano can totally focus your mind on to something else…

It was only later as she was sat on the pilot seat of the TARDIS console room that her stomach reminded her that it was still carrying out its silent protest about her lifestyle. She held her stomach as though the action would stop it from making itself known.

“Are you okay, Donna?” the Doctor asked her with deep concern. “You don’t look very well.”

“I must have eaten something in Pompeii that didn’t agree with me,” she told him, giving her tummy a sympathetic rub. “It’ll soon pass.”

“Yes,” he replied, drawing out the syllable as he thoughtfully considered her. “Is there something you’re not telling me? You haven’t looked well since you came back.”

“I’m fine!” she forced herself to say breezily. “It’s just a little tummy bug. I’m susceptible to them. I never used to be, but I’ve had one bout after another since I got home from America.”

“You went to America? Why did you go there?” he asked with sudden curiosity.

She waved her hand dismissively. “I went alien hunting. I told you; I was investigating anything that looked remotely dodgy in order to find you,” she said, turning her head to hide her blush. She didn’t want him to get too big a head by knowing how much she had sought him out.

“I think we ought to take you down to the medbay in order to give you a once over just in case; especially if you’ve developed a weak stomach,” he told her. “I’ll no doubt have just the thing to get you all chipper again.”

“Alright,” she reluctantly agreed. “We can’t have me chucking up all over your trousers if we have another day like today.”

“It would be unpleasant even if we don’t have a day like today,” he pointed out with a grin. Holding out a hand towards her, he enticed her with, “Come on, Donna Noble. Let’s go and fight this stomach bug of yours. We’ll soon have it on the run.”

Donna laughed at him. “Thank goodness I don’t have the runs! Being sick is bad enough.”

“You’ve actually been sick?” He turned his concerned little face towards her. “You never said that.”

“I thought I didn’t have to,” she retorted. “Too much detail and all that.”

“Nothing you can say will be too much detail,” he said, trying to reassure her in friendly tones, as they reached the medbay. “Pop up on the table, will you.”

“I’ll do my impression of a piece of toast, and pop up there,” she replied, trying to make light of her nervousness. What if he found something horrible like a tumour? What if it was a stomach ulcer? He might take her straight back home. What if he found nothing at all, and thought she was totally making it up? So many things to worry about!

The Doctor bustled about, uttering little words of comfort, as he took her blood pressure, monitored her heart rate, took a blood sample, waved a weird fancy gadget at her that he claimed took harmless scans; and generally mumbled to himself as he wrote things down. Finally he frowned at her and said, “Do you want the good news or the bad news?”

She considered his demeanour and answered, “Give me the good news first and we’ll work our way up to the bad.”

“Okay,” he said, and then sighed before continuing, “I can tell you that you have no sign of any cancer or ulcer; I know you were secretly worried about that. But the bad news is, Donna, that you are pregnant.”

“You what?!” she exclaimed. “Pregnant!” Her mind raced to work out how the hell she could be pregnant and how long she could have been so.

“I’m afraid so. Judging by this result you are at least ten weeks pregnant. What do you want me to do about it?” he asked softly.

“Do?” she asked him in shocked confusion. “Like what?”

“Do you want me to help you get rid of it?” he reworded his question.

“An abortion?! Oh no! No, I can’t do that. I could never do that,” Donna quickly replied, holding her stomach protectively. “Does this mean I can’t stay with you?”

He reached out to hold both her hands. “Oh Donna; I would never do that to you. You are free to stay here as long as you want. I like having you here,” he told her, beaming his friendliest smile.

Donna leant forward and planted a huge grateful kiss on his cheek. “Thank you! Thank you so much!” she gushed, letting soft wisps of her breath fly across his cheek.

The Doctor blushed. For some reason her gratitude and act had caused something unexpected within him; making him feel extremely protective towards her. “That’s okay, Donna. Just remember to let me know if there are any problems in the future, eh? For now, I have something that will help with your morning sickness,” he stammered out, and then sought through a drawer to find her the tablets he had mentioned. “There you go! One hundred per cent guaranteed to obliterate morning sickness safely.”

“Be careful,” she warned him, taking the bottle of tablets from him. “I may be declaring my love again for you at this rate.” She added in a little wink, and he felt something do a flip in his stomach.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

‘Seen one dungeon, seen them all,’ Donna thought as she waited patiently for the Doctor to appear. Eventually he did, after being frogmarched down a dark and dingy corridor and then thrown into the same cell as her.

“Donna! Are you okay? Did they hurt you? Is the baby alright?” he asked anxiously, running his hands expertly over her body. His hands ended up resting on her stomach, and his nervous expression turned to that of relief. “Ah! Safe and sound still.”

“You can stop feeling me up now, Sunshine!” Donna huffed out at him, clearly embarrassed at his show of concern in front of the other prisoners in the cell. She then spoilt the effect by swaying on the spot; but the Doctor caught her deftly.

He quickly pulled her closer, into his protective embrace. “Don’t worry, Donna, I’ve got you,” he crooned into her hair. “We’ll soon be out of this dank, musty place and in the sunlight.”

She lifted up her chin to gaze into his eyes. “Are you sure?” she whispered in disbelief. “They seem awfully keen to keep us here.”

He reassured her with a kiss on the forehead. “I’m sure. Our protest has been formally lodged, so it’s just a matter of paperwork now,” he murmured back.

For some reason the other prisoners were eyeing them suspiciously, so the Doctor turned their bodies so that Donna didn’t have to look at them. There was no way he’d release his hold on her; it had taken him hours to find out where the Sylranians had taken her. Fortunately they had soon changed their tune about imprisoning them when he had pointed out the problems of holding a pregnant woman in such a place. In fact they had strangely changed their tune, now that he thought about it.

A guard appeared at the prison door at that moment, shouting out, “Prisoner known as the Doctor and his wife Donna!”

Donna went to deny the relationship, but the Doctor quickly shushed her and let them be led out, still keeping her firmly within his arms. 

The mystery was solved once they got outside. They were greeted by a man who obviously held some sway, and a bunch of armed guards. “Doctor! I hear your wife is carrying a child within her body,” the man started to explain.

Donna immediately stiffened within his grasp, and the Doctor held her even more protectively. “Yes. What business is that of yours, if I may ask?” the Doctor called out.

The man shook his head in mock misunderstanding, and exasperation. “We have long had problems conceiving naturally on this world, Doctor. We need to know how and why your wife conceived her child.”

“They want to cut me up?!” Donna asked in shock.

“No, Donna. I would never let them do that,” the Doctor replied.

“I’m not sure that is your choice to make Doctor. Your wife is now the property of my medical laboratory,” the man finished telling them.

“Property!” Donna cried out indignantly. “How dare you! I belong to no one, do you hear me? I am my own person!”

“Not helping, Donna,” the Doctor snapped at her, pushing her behind him. “Look,” he said to the man, “you are going about all this the wrong way. I can help you. I have the means to find out a solution for you all; but you do not need to take Donna.”

The man gave a wry chuckle. “Oh I think we do. Guards! Take her!”

The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and pressed a setting, causing the guards to howl in surprise. Their weapons were vibrating within their hands, causing a high pitched whine and then the weapons increasingly became warm until they were too hot to hold on to anymore.

By the time the guards had recovered their wits, the Doctor and Donna had gone.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The Doctor assisted Donna to sit down on the pilot seat as they both panted heavily from their run into the TARDIS. “You need to go and lie down for a while,” the Doctor instructed her. “I prescribe a good dose of tea and rest.”

“Are you ordering me to go and make the tea, Sunshine?” she huffed.

He smiled indulgently back at her. “No, I’ll make the tea and I’ll bring it to you as you rest. Does that sound better?”

“Much better,” Donna agreed. “I could get used to this idea of having a husband.”

“Oi! Watch it!” he protested playfully. “Or I shall refer to you as my wife even more.”

“You just try it, Spaceman,” she playfully threatened in return. “Though I won’t complain if you bring biscuits with the tea.”

“You not complain?! I’d like to see that!” he mocked her. “I’d better bring you some just to see it happen.”

Donna eased herself up off the seat. “You’d better, or there’ll be words,” she teased him.

He took her arm, and guided her down the corridor towards her room. “Words, eh? Would they include the ones ‘I’, ‘bloody’, ‘love’ and ‘you’ by any chance?”

“Might do,” she replied, smirking at him. “And then again, they might not.”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Hello, Gramps!” Donna greeted Wilf when he opened the front door.

“Donna!” he cheered in return, and rushed forward to hug her. “You’re looking well. Being with the Doctor obviously agrees with you!”

“Any chance of a cuppa?” she asked in answer, not wanting to explain things on the doorstep.

Wilf eagerly led the way into the house, and helped strip off her coat, hanging it reverently on the coat stand in the hallway. “Come in!” he told her. “Ooh, it’s so good to see you again, my girl.”

Donna immediately felt guilty that she hadn’t returned home for a visit sooner. But Wilf made her feel so welcome, all that soon disappeared as he idly chatted, telling her all that she had missed so far. “And what about you?” he asked as he placed a mug of tea in front of her. “What’s your news?”

“Where shall I start?” she pondered.

“How about with the ring? Why are you wearing a wedding ring?” Wilf asked pointedly.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, and looked at the ring sitting on her left hand. “The Doctor insisted I wear it after we were on Fown. The people there were really anti me and the Doctor because we weren’t married. Hopping mad about it they were; threatening to execute me for being a whore. So we played it safe on the next planet after that. I think it was called Lda. By the time we got to Bempob, especially after all that fuss on Sylrania, we decided the ring was a good idea. Well, when people assume you are married they tend to leave you alone,” she explained.

“So you’re not actually married,” Wilf queried.

“Oh no! Not in the usual way,” Donna answered. “We have…” And then she blushed.

“I see,” Wilf replied.

Sylvia arrived at that moment, so all current events were related again, and dissected until the Doctor appeared about two hours later looking very agitated. He was bouncing on the spot when Donna opened the front door to him. “Donna!” he cried out. “I’m so sorry it took so long. Geniuses, huh?” He swept inside, and then immediately grabbed her around the waist. “Are you okay? Did it go alright? Did you tell them?”

She placed her arms around his neck to calm him down. “Yes, I’m okay, yes it went alright, no I haven’t had a chance yet. Does that answer all your questions?”

He chuckled in reply. “Almost; just one more… how’s junior doing?”

She smiled softly. “Junior is doing fine, so stop fussing and come and have a cup of tea.”

“Tea?! Oh good! I’m gasping,” he enthused. “Any cake to go with that?”

She playfully swatted his shoulder. “Yes there might be, if you ask nicely; although I’m not sure I should give you any.”

“Oh please, Donna!” He made his saddest appeal he could with his eyes and a little pout. “I need rewarding after what I’ve just been through.”

“Who have you upset this time?” she asked with a sigh.

“Only some jumped up adolescent brat, and a Sat Nav system that tried to kill me,” he supplied.

“In that case,” she said, reaching up slightly to place a kiss on his cheek, “welcome home.”

“Aye aye! What’s going on here?” called out Wilf when he spotted the Doctor in the hallway. So introductions were made, and identities confirmed with Wilf and Sylvia, who hadn’t been that pleased to see the man who had whisked Donna away from her wedding.

“I’ve come to give Donna some moral support,” he admitted when they asked why he was there. He reached out to take a firm grasp of Donna’s hand as she remained standing by him. “We’ve got some news.”

“Then we’d better sit down,” Wilf replied, inviting them both to go and sit in the lounge. It hadn’t escaped Wilf’s attention that something was going on between the pair of them, but he waited patiently to hear what it was.

Donna and the Doctor sat anxiously on the settee. The Doctor had never experienced a situation quite like this before; one where he might actually be attacked by a mother with an axe. There was always a first time for everything, he supposed. “Go on, Donna,” he softly encouraged her, and gave her hand another comforting squeeze.

Donna took a deep breath. “Mum, Gramps, I’ve got something to tell you,” she began boldly. “I’ve got some news and I’m not sure if you’ll be pleased about it or not.”

“Has it got anything to do with that wedding ring you’re wearing?” demanded Sylvia, butting in before Donna could draw a second breath.

The Doctor let Donna answer that. “No, Mum. I thought I explained that… It’s to do with…. It’s something else entirely. The fact is, Mum, Gramps, I’m having a baby. I’m pregnant.” She let out a big sigh as she finished.

“Pregnant?!” Sylvia gasped in horror. “You’re having a baby with _that_ man?!”

The Doctor started at the insult, but Donna squeezed his hand back. “Mum, before you wade in with the insults, it isn’t the Doctor’s baby. If you must know,” she paused, not wanting to reveal the name but feeling obliged to anyway, “it was Peter.”

“Peter?! And after me trying to get you to be nice to him! I can’t believe it!” Sylvia exclaimed.

Wilf looked like thunder. “So he deliberately got you pregnant and ran, did he?”

“No, Gramps,” Donna replied tearfully. “It wasn’t like that, and he doesn’t know. He doesn’t need to know because I’m keeping it and I’m staying with the Doctor.” She tried to hold in a sob, and the Doctor immediately engulfed her in a hug.

“It’s okay, love,” he told her as she sobbed on his chest.

Sylvia got up and pressed a hanky into Donna’s hand, who took it gratefully. “It’s alright, Donna,” Sylvia said to her in quite a consoling voice. “Me and Dad will support you every step of the way, if this is what you want.”

Donna lifted a tear-sodden face to look at her mother. “I do, Mum. I’m keeping this baby no matter what.”

“Then we need to say ‘welcome to the family, Doctor’,” Wilf declared, and got up to shake the Doctor’s hand.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\


	2. Chapter 2

When they got back home to the TARDIS, Martha quickly cried off from staying with them too long, saying she was exhausted and just wanted to just have a bath before crawling into bed; so the Doctor and Donna were left alone to their own devices. 

“That didn’t go too badly,” the Doctor stated when they sat in the kitchen with their ritual night-time cup of tea. “In fact I’m inclined to say it went excellently.”

“Which bit are we talking about?” Donna enquired, as she sat holding her cup tightly. “The factory, Mum’s or the fact you almost sacrificed your life again without telling me?”

“I was thinking about the bit at your mum’s, but did you mind about the whole sacrificing bit?” he asked, reaching out to take her hand. “It wasn’t done on purpose without your permission.”

She gave a little shrug. “Of course I’m not upset you almost got killed, leaving me all on my own. It’s your decision.”

“So you hitting me was you not caring?” he asked her to clarify. 

She gave a sniff, and tried to hold back the tears. “Yeah, I don’t care, and I’m not crying about that. This is purely hormonal.”

“Of course it is,” he pretended to agree. “And me doing this is me not caring too,” he added, as he soothed a hand through her hair and caressed her cheek.

She smiled at him. “Thought so.”

“Let’s get you to bed, Mrs Wife. You must be tired out,” he said softly.

“I am a bit, Dr Husband,” she admitted, adding in a yawn. “Are you coming too?”

“Okay. I’ll come and lie with you for a bit; until you fall asleep.”

She kissed the side of his hand that sat on her cheek. “Thanks! What would I do without you?”

“Buy a whippet,” he instantly replied, and they giggled together.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The Doctor lay on the bed, gently stroking Donna’s hair as she drifted off. She looked so peaceful now, but boy had she been annoyed with him when they had left the Rattigan Academy! And rightly so, considering he had promised he would always be there for her and he had jeopardised that fairly quickly. In a moment of guilt he leant forward and kissed her on the forehead; and then instantly wanted to laugh. There was a time when she would have been livid if he had tried to kiss her in such a way, but lately he often kissed her on the head and she often kissed him on the cheek. It sort of went with their pretend marriage; quite nicely in fact. He liked being able to caress her hair whenever he felt like it, staying with her until she slept was nice, cuddling her was even nicer, and soon there would be a mini Donna running about. That fact pleased him immensely, much to his surprise and shock. At one time he would have protested it was too domestic, but with Donna it seemed perfectly right; it seemed to be _them_ somehow.

Donna snuffled and changed position on the bed, and he watched her indulgently, still stroking her hair to his hearts’ delight. Yes, he liked this arrangement; he liked it very much he decided with a smile.

“Why’re you smiling, Spaceman?” Donna mumbled at him.

“Because I have you,” he readily replied, and kissed her cheek. Donna merely smiled faintly in return and went back to sleep.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Martha had initially found out about the pregnancy in the factory, when the Doctor had rescued her from her bonds, by the clone vat. Donna had watched Martha’s clone die before her and had burst into tears, clutching her stomach. Martha was completely puzzled when the Doctor had instantly abandoned her and cuddled Donna, telling her things would be okay, that she wouldn’t suffer in such a way; and then he’d touched Donna’s stomach protectively!

Now the first thing that had flown through Martha’s mind had been ‘how dare he?!’ because _she_ was the one that had been held hostage by the Sontarans for hours, not Donna! Until all the tummy patting started, obviously. “What’s going on?” she had demanded from them both.

“Ah, you see, Martha, the thing is,” the Doctor had stammered for a few seconds.

Donna being Donna was much more blunt. “What he’s trying to tell you, Martha, is that I’m pregnant. In fact you’re lucky I haven’t chucked up in front of you with the smell of that stuff.”

“But… you said…!” Martha couldn’t believe her ears. The Doctor… and Donna!

“Oh no! It isn’t like that at all,” the Doctor insisted, waving his hands about in emphasis. “It isn’t mine!”

“How lovely that he fights so much to disown me,” Donna pointed out sarcastically. “He’ll be telling you next that he isn’t my husband.”

“But I’m not!” he instantly protested; and then looked sheepish, giving a nervous laugh. “Oh, I see what you did there.” 

There was an awkward moment where Martha waited for further information from the pair of them, but the Doctor merely led them onto the next thing; which happened to be a trip to the Rattigan Academy. The Doctor going onto the Sontaran spaceship and offering to die with them rather diverted their attention after that.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Having Martha back in the TARDIS surprisingly made their relationship seem almost naughty! They had to creep about to talk to each other privately; and the Doctor had to sneak into Donna’s bedroom to gain their night-time routine. Why they felt they couldn’t be more open and honest puzzled them, but they desperately tried to keep up appearances that ‘things were not that way’.

They even found themselves arranging little ‘dates’ when they could meet without observation during the day. It was quite invigorating, like having a secret affair. Martha knew Donna was pregnant, of course; it was hard to hide the fact now, but they still felt they couldn’t show that they gave each other mutual comfort, as though it was forbidden.

They had arranged to meet in the library, and were sitting comfortably on one of the large leather sofas in there having a quiet cuddle when Martha suddenly appeared. Except they didn’t see her arrive; they were too busy discussing the finer points of various washing powders when used to clean baby clothes, like you do.

Martha found them wrapped around each other, whispering low, and exchanging small innocent kisses; completely engrossed in their actions. Well, they would be perceived as innocent if they weren’t compelled to sneak off and do this. 

Deciding to experiment in order to determine whether or not this was an innocent situation, Martha stepped outside the library and made a noise as if she were approaching the room. The reaction was instant. The Doctor and Donna jumped apart, so that when Martha walked in officially the Doctor was standing by a bookcase while Donna remained on the sofa, supposedly engrossed in a book. Martha was not convinced by their act; but it was extremely interesting.

“What have you two been up to?” she asked as nonchalantly as she could. 

“Oh this and that,” the Doctor replied, as though he was being dragged out of a really interesting book. “Isn’t it about time for a spot of lunch?”

“I think it is,” Donna readily agreed. “Are you hungry, Martha?”

It never failed to impress Martha that the pair of them managed to make her feel included in everything when she was with them even though they were obviously sneaking around doing _something_. Did they honestly think she would be upset if they revealed their true relationship? All the fancying nonsense was firmly in her past now that she had her fiancé Tom. The Doctor wasn’t hers and never had been; she had accepted that. It stung that he had easily replaced her at first. Who wouldn’t be affected in such a way? But Donna had quickly won her round with her sympathy and compassion. The more she saw them together the more she could see they were good for each other. Who was she to deny them their own piece of happiness? She wasn’t immature and petty enough to hate them for it.

With that in mind, she waited until they were munching their sandwiches before she asked her pertinent question. “Why are you two sneaking around seeing each other behind my back? You don’t have to do that for my sake you know.”

“Sneaking around? No!” the Doctor denied. “You’ve got it wrong, Martha. We wouldn’t do anything like that.”

“Are you sure?” Martha swept her beady gaze between both the Doctor and Donna.

“I think so; don’t you, Donna?” The Doctor eyed Donna quizzically, daring her to say otherwise.

“Oh yes!” she readily agreed, taking her cue from him. “Why do you ask, Martha?”

“Because you…,” she began to explain as the pair of them sat and looked at her with innocent expressions. They were obviously living in denial that they were doing anything that could be deemed as suspicious at all. How do you deal with that? Do you call them bare-faced liars, when she had been spying on them in a sense? Martha decided to let it ride for the time being. “…seem to have secrets,” she finished saying.

The Doctor gave a derisive snort. “We all have our secrets,” he argued. “Even you.”

‘Nowhere near as many as you, though,’ Martha thought.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Later on Martha deliberately excused herself to go to bed early, saying she had some reading she wanted to catch up on. She had no intention of lying in bed reading; she was going to creep back and see what they were truly up to in her absence. It might all be perfectly innocent and her mind had gone into overdrive, although she couldn’t think of a single scenario that would work in that way. She only hoped that the TARDIS wouldn’t tell on her.

Walking softly barefoot down the corridor, she made for the library where she had last left Donna and the Doctor. As before, they were wrapped around each other on the large leather sofa, talking quietly together, when Martha peeped in.

“Well, Mrs Wife, it looks like we’re going to have problems with Martha after all,” the Doctor said as he embraced Donna closely and kissed her forehead.

Donna tilted up her head to kiss him back on the cheek. “I know, Dr Husband. She means well, but…”

The Doctor sighed. “I know what you mean. No one seems to understand that we aren’t a couple and never will be.”

“Yes,” Donna tried to answer, but a yawn got in the way.

“Come on, Mrs Wife; time for bed.” He released his hold on her to encourage her to stand up. As they stood, he couldn’t resist giving her tiny bump a fond caress. “Junior is tuckering you out. I suppose we’ll be switching you over to a maternity nightdress soon.”

“Not too soon, hopefully, Dr Husband. I don’t want to get too big in a hurry,” she answered him, wrapping an arm around his waist.

He started to lead Donna towards her bedroom, so Martha quietly dashed to hide behind her own bedroom door. She heard the Doctor reply as they walked, “You’ll never look too big in my eyes.” 

Donna chuckled as they both entered her bedroom. “You say that now, but just you wait until I look like a whale.”

There was the sound of the Doctor starting to protest at that as the bedroom door shut tight once they were in the room. 

Martha was gobsmacked. What was with all the ‘Mrs Wife’ and ‘Dr Husband’ stuff they’d been coming out with? Were they just affectionate nicknames, or were they really married? And if so why weren’t they admitting it? The whole thing got curiouser and curiouser!

She resolved to see how long the Doctor spent in Donna’s room, by leaving her door wide open and listening for the sound of his footsteps. She tried really hard, but when she woke up the following ‘morning’ Martha realised she’d not heard him leave! How where they going to explain that one? If they had anything to explain, of course.

It would be a while before she got the chance to ask.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

All they’d done was saunter out of the TARDIS and some idiot soldier had grabbed the Doctor’s hand and shoved it into a machine; a cloning machine at that! None of them had expecting a living adult to emerge when the machine door opened, especially one that cheerily declared, “Hello Dad!”

As usual, the Doctor had stepped in front of Donna to protect her from any possible attack. She still wasn’t showing very much, so he hoped against hope that the soldiers wouldn’t be interested in using her pregnancy against them. And as usual, somebody had to use their seen relationship against them. When Cobb had accused Donna of being the Doctor’s woman as he threatened them, they’d made their normal denials, though they’d come out a bit feeble now that the Doctor thought about it.

And then things started to get worse. The soldier clone had set off an explosive that possibly injured Martha, if not worse; definitely separating them, and that made him mad. Fuming in fact! But inevitably it was Donna that told the clone off. The Doctor chuckled as he heard her insult the clone with the name G.I. Jane!

Hormones were running quite high on Messaline, making Donna very crotchety. Yes, him and Donna snarked at each other quite a lot that day compared to normal. Well, it was all her fault! Trying to get him to acknowledge the clone was his daughter, indeed, when she clearly wasn’t. He was no more her father than he was Donna’s child’s… Ah, that brought up some painful thoughts.

And Donna had gone straight into mother-mode, talking to the girl, telling her about him, about life with him; and she went and named her Jenny. Why did she do that? Naming her made it all real, made her part of their family; made her his to protect.

He’d tried to ignore all that as he picked an argument with Donna in a cell; well, he tried and failed, to be honest. And when Donna had suggested testing out her womanly wiles on some hapless unimportant guard… he had nipped that little idea in the bud! No one got to test out her wiles before he did, for goodness sake!

For a long time he thought he had known what the worse thing happening could have been. He’d thought wrong. There is nothing that can prepare you for the death of a child.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The Doctor had never felt as numb as he did when they trooped back to the TARDIS. He had gone through the motions as they returned to earth to take Martha home, and had only started to feel better when Donna had surreptitiously squeezed his hand. He knew he would need her comfort that night, so her protest to Martha that she would travel with him forever had been a balm on his soul.

Too many hurtful thoughts had bombarded his mind as he stood at the console; so many he had almost not heard Donna sidle up and ask how he was. “See that there,” she had said pressing her hands over his hearts, “it doesn’t hurt because it was wrong to let her in; it hurts because you cared.”

He could help smiling at that; the fact she had encouraged him to go on and find a new planet for Jenny. It was exactly what he wanted to hear. He needed a reason to carry on. And he thought he was coping so well with it all; right up until they had their evening cup of tea.

Donna had leant across to hold his hand, and asked him softly, “How are you doing, Dr Husband?”

He had gone to answer, but the words stuck in his throat. “Not so well, Mrs Wife. I need…”

She had been there like a shot, hugging him tightly. “Come to bed, and we’ll do this properly,” she had whispered.

“Can I stay tonight?” he had whispered back. “Stay properly, I mean.”

“Of course; I’m not letting you go this time,” she had soothed him. So he had stayed in the bed this time, held within her warm embrace, as he cried.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was to be the first of many nights that he climbed in next to Donna, glorifying in her comfort and the heat that radiated from her body. Who needed a hot water bottle when you had that sort of thing on tap? She certainly eased the coldness that could have so easily engulfed his soul.

Not that she hadn’t complained about him when he pressed up next to her in order to spoon into her back. “You’re bloody freezing!” she had spat out.

He in turn had wanted to point out that was the point of lying so close to her; he needed warming up. Thank goodness he had removed most of his clothes because he was in danger of sweltering if not cooking beneath the amount of covers Donna had on her bed.

The funny thing is, once you get over the embarrassment of being under the covers in an intimate situation that doesn’t bother you when you sit on a sofa, and all the worse tears have been wept, that leaves the arguments as you settle into a new routine. 

“Do you have to take all the covers?!” Donna kept accusing him, when he inevitably turned over to escape being boiled alive and then lost all that body heat.

“I don’t do that!” the Doctor had instantly denied. “You’re the one that won’t share. That’s when you’re not trying to hog the whole bed.”

“You what?! Well you know what to do if you don’t like it, Sunshine! Go sling your hook back to your own bed,” Donna had argued, clasping her side of the covers firmly within her grip.

“I never said I wanted to leave,” he huffed back. “I just want my fair share of the bed.”

She had smirked back at him. “Why is it then that you spend most of the time on my side?”

“Well,” he mumbled in embarrassment, and plucked absently at his share of the covers. “That’s because you are over there.”

“I take it you want another cuddle then?” she offered, holding out her arms in invite.

“If you’re offering,” the Doctor quickly replied, and scooted over to make the most of it. “Good night, Mrs Wife,” he said, kissing her forehead.

“Good night, Dr Husband,” she replied, kissing his cheek. “And keep those cold feet to yourself.”

The Doctor merely giggled in return as he snuggled into her.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\


	3. Chapter 3

“Let’s see where we end up today,” the Doctor said, beaming at the console. “Press the random button, Donna.”

“Are you sure you want to let me?” she asked, unsure why he was letting her do such an important thing. “I might mess up.”

“Donna! How can you mess up pressing a simple button?” he quizzed her with a quirk of an eyebrow.

“It’s part of my natural talent. You wouldn’t believe how much damage I caused with a bag of humbugs,” she confessed, still looking apprehensive.

“Humbugs?” the Doctor echoed. “Never mind, you can tell me later in bed.” With a dismissive sniff he leaned over and pressed the random button. “See! Nothing got messed up,” he pointed out smugly.

“That’s because I didn’t touch it,” Donna insisted, much to his annoyance.

He merely groaned, held out his hand, and led her out into the warm sunshine of 1920s England.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The Doctor had proudly escorted Donna into the cocktail party on the lawn of Eddison Manor. She looked absolutely lovely, and they’d found a dress that hid her baby bump so Donna was feeling very confident.

The minx had tried to make him jealous though by flirting briefly with the lady of the manor’s son, Roger. It was obvious after a while that the boy was gay, but for a moment there she had the Doctor on the defensive. “All the best ones are on the other bus,” she had cheekily told him.

So of course he had retorted, “Or Time Lords.” It stood to reason, after all. He would have said something else to burst her bubble, but at that point they’d been introduced to Agatha Christie. THE Agatha Christie! Donna had then pulled faces at him as he did his fangirly act. He couldn’t help it; he was a massive fan. Always had been, always will be!

“You two make an unusual couple,” Agatha had remarked; and they’d both looked at their wedding rings. How do you deny such a relationship after that? You can’t; so they’d both laughed knowingly.

He got his own back, by declaring she was his plucky young female assistant later on. She didn’t laugh then; especially when he handed her an enormous magnifying glass. The threat to use it on him, however, was completely unnecessary.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Ginger beer?!” He had thrown the question at the footman as he strove to find the cure for his cyanide poisoning. Even in the midst of his pain, the Doctor had the feeling Donna would give him what for over using that term. He hadn’t meant to publically accuse the footman of being gay; it just sort of came out in the heat of the moment.

That accidental accusation wasn’t the only thing that came out in the heat of the moment. There was a fair bit of stupidity on Donna’s part; and the Doctor made a mental note to never have her on his team if they played charades against Torchwood. No, the main heat of the moment thing happened when he demanded a shock, a big shock, to aid his detox.

He stared at her. Donna Noble had kissed him! She had actually, properly, kissed him! And he couldn’t believe what a lame response had come out of his mouth. “I must do that again,” he’d said. Well! He had just been through a detox in order not to die, for goodness sake! Give a Time Lord a break!!

“Donna…,” he had started to say to her, when they got the chance to draw breath.

“Later, Spaceman,” she had instantly replied; shutting him up on that topic for the time being. But he would return to it; oh yes!

But first he had a murder mystery to solve; and unfortunately it didn’t involve those pesky kids.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Back home afterwards in the TARDIS kitchen she was avoiding looking at him. It was so unlike her to do that.

“Tea?” she had asked, and turned so that he couldn’t see her face. He thought that was decidedly odd.

So he had deliberately sidled up to her to find out why. “Mrs Wife, what’s the matter?” he gently asked as an opener for their conversation.

“Nothing!”

She’d almost flinched away from him. He knew it couldn’t be the tone of his voice, so it must have been his words; or two words in particular. “Have I said something wrong?” he pressed her. “Do I… Should I stop calling you ‘Mrs Wife’? Don’t you like it anymore?”

“It’s…” She turned her teary eyed face to look him square in the eye. “I don’t know what I think anymore! I’m not sure if I should call you ‘Dr Husband’, because… it suddenly feels wrong,” she finished saying in a small voice.

He immediately hugged her tightly, and kissed her forehead; just like he normally did. “There’s nothing to worry about. It’s you and me again; no prying Martha, no disapproving people. Just us and junior to concern ourselves with,” he told her as brightly as he could. “I’ll see to the kettle and we’ll have a nice cup of tea to calm things down.”

“Thank you!” she replied, and kissed his cheek in return. Her relief was almost tangible.

“We’ll have this cuppa, and then you, young lady, are going to have some rest,” he insisted.

“But Doctor…,” she began to protest.

“No buts! We have to think of junior here,” he pointed out; and gave into his need to caress her baby bump. “He’ll thank you for it later.”

Donna gave a wry chuckle. “What makes you think he gives a monkey’s?”

“Of course he’ll care! With us as his parents he can’t fail to,” the Doctor argued; and added in a pout for good measure.

“A pretend marriage, _and_ pretend fatherhood. Blimey! Isn’t all this a bit too domestic for you?” she teased him.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way… now about this tea,” he said, deliberately distracting her.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“I told you, I don’t need to lie down,” Donna griped as the Doctor almost dragged her into the bedroom.

“And I told you that you have to. Trust me; I’m a doctor,” he retorted; excessively pleased he got the answering laugh he was after. He sat on the bed and pulled her down to him. “Now listen, Mrs Wife; you are going to lie here for at least an hour. And if you are good, I shall stay here with you.”

“Are you not well, Dr Husband,” she mocked him, feeling his brow. “Don’t you have some emergency repair to do with the dooflippery?” 

“No!” he replied indignantly. “You make me sound bad.” He then beamed cheerily at her. “I did almost die earlier, remember. I have your detox technique to thank.”

Donna immediately blushed a deep shade of pink. “I didn’t do anything much,” she mumbled.

“I don’t call saving my life anything!” He laid down, and pulled her into his embrace, kissing her forehead. “Your quick thinking saved the day. Or should that be phrased ‘saved the Time Lord’?”

Her hand fluttered across his chest, as though she was checking his hearts were still beating. “Anyone could have thought of using a kiss like that to shock you,” she said modestly.

“Ah, but it wasn’t just the fact it was a kiss, it was the way you kissed me,” he clarified.

She lifted her head to blink in confusion at him. “It was only a kiss like this.” And she kissed his cheek with a bit more force than normal.

He brought a hand up to rub a thumb tenderly along her jaw. “You know, you can kiss me in other places, if you want to,” he suggested.

“Like where? Are we drawing up a list?” she teased him.

“If you like,” he said mischievously. “We could start with here…and here..” He kissed her forehead and then her cheek. “There’s here…” He kissed the tip of her nose, ever mindful whether she liked this or not. She didn’t seem to mind; so he took the next step. “And I thought I’d try here…” He placed a brief, chaste kiss upon her lips.

“Well, that’s four places to consider,” she commented.

“Except I was suggesting you do the kissing,” he murmured next to her mouth. “I can demonstrate what I mean.”

As he crept closer still, Donna brought up her hand and pushed him away; much to his annoyed surprise. “I can’t!” she told him forlornly. “It isn’t you, it’s me; honest it is. I think you’re really lovely, and I’m tremendously flattered but… I haven’t done anything like this since Peter and I’m not sure I should.”

“Oh!” the Doctor responded as best he could in the circumstances; but he felt so utterly rejected. “I wasn’t trying to step on any toes…”

“You’re not,” she insisted, grabbing hold of his hands. “I’m not saying that you can’t kiss me; I’m saying I won’t necessarily kiss you back.”

“I see,” he said, not really seeing at all but knowing from living with Donna that one of the things you don’t do as a bloke is argue with a pregnant woman. Logic doesn’t always make an appearance. Perhaps it is also on another bus?

“I’m so glad you understand!” she exclaimed, and threw her arms around his neck to give him a grateful hug.

He happily returned it. “So, can we still do all the other stuff? Has anything changed?” he wondered apprehensively.

“You big softie!” she chided him. “You can still sleep in here, and have all your hugs. The only difference is that you don’t have to kiss me only on the forehead.”

“And what about you?” he tried to clarify. “Are you sticking to only cheeks?”

She pulled back to give him a mischievous grin. “We’ll see what happens, shall we?”

He beamed happily at her before seeking out another hug.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Did you see what happened to my book, Mrs Wife?” he asked as he swept his gaze over the bedside table and then bent down low to look under the bed.

“What book, Dr Husband? If you mean the ‘Designs of the Alkarian Mularkan Drive for Geeks’, I put it back in the library,” she explained as she lay in the bed watching him expectantly. She then put her own book down to peer over the side of the bed with him.

“Aw, I wanted to keep that book in here; but no, I meant my ‘A Dad’s Guide to Babycare’. I’m sure I left it right here,” he said as he looked up at her. Doing so, he suddenly had the mad urge to kiss her, and not just on the forehead.

“You’ve thought of something, haven’t you? You’ve gone all mushy thinking about junior,” she softly accused him.

He immediately blushed to the tips of his ears, and he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “No,” he quickly denied. “I wasn’t thinking of being mushy.”

She patted the empty space in the bed beside her in invitation. “Get up here then.”

As he clambered onto the bed, Donna reached for him, wrapping her arms around his waist to draw his body closer. “See, I’m not all mushy,” he pointed out in a low voice. He promptly felt himself almost go all mushy when she lifted a hand to tenderly caress his face.

“You may be a lot of things but you are never mushy, my spaceman,” she whispered.

He geared himself up to kiss her; to properly taste her lips without fear of dying or a mouthful of condiments. Momentarily checking that she wasn’t pulling away from him, he pressed forward and placed his lips on her mouth. They were soft, very soft; but that was it. There was no returning pressure from her, so he reluctantly stopped. “Too soon?” he asked.

Before answering him, she kissed his cheek. “Still too soon. Sorry.” 

He then conjured up all his courage to ask, “Do you want me to take you to see Peter?” He could almost feel the bile rising from his stomach up into his mouth as he said the name.

“No,” she insisted with a shake of her head. “I’m definitely not ready for that yet.”

With heavy hearts he nestled them down into their usual sleeping position, and tried desperately not to be disappointed. She had said the word ‘yet’. That sort of implied that she would want to see Peter in the future. Did that also mean she would go off with Peter if the opportunity arose? Would she ultimately leave him? He couldn’t bear the thought of losing her; not now. Not after they’d been through so much together.

He absolutely dreaded what could be coming up in their future.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“A beach! You found me a beach!” Donna exclaimed excitedly, as she whirled on the sand to take everything in.

The Doctor stood smugly watching her. “And not only that; it’s also deserted so you can wear that bikini you desperately wanted to try out.”

“Oh do be serious! I can’t wear anything as revealing as a bikini; I look like an elephant,” she said despondently. “I’d put you right off your dinner!”

“Donna! You are pregnant, and blooming. Don’t be ashamed of your body; please don’t,” the Doctor begged. He pulled her into a consoling hug, and whispered close into her ear enticingly, “It’s only us, so there’s nothing to stop you wearing whatever you like. You could even go naked if you fancied it.”

She playfully swatted at his upper arm. “Give over! You don’t half talk crap at times. Anyone would think you want to look.”

“Anyone would be perfectly correct,” he purred; and then caught her suspicious expression. “I didn’t mean the nakedness, just the looking at you part…,” he added with an embarrassed sniff.

“If you were any other bloke I’d have thought you were after a quick shoofty, but I know you would avoid getting too much of an eyeful.” She gave him a wry smile.

“I… erm…,” he spluttered. 

“Hold that thought,” she mischievously told him, and disappeared inside the TARDIS to change. She reappeared swathed in a beach dress, hat and sunglasses, carrying a beach bag.

“Expecting to do a spot of spying?” he asked her.

“Nothing beyond your pale flesh,” she answered, and settled herself down onto the warm sand. Looking up at him she added, “If you ever manage to take your suit off.”

“Ah, now, Mrs Wife; you know full well that I’m capable of taking this all off.” He gave her a wink.

She decided to ignore the thought of him as he normally dressed at night; or should that be undressed? “Just pretend you like sunbathing for a few seconds, and come and help me put this sun cream on,” she ordered him. “Otherwise, Dr Husband, I may have to consider ditching you for another bloke.”

He eagerly took the offered bottle of sun cream from her hand, and sat himself down to enjoy his task. Releasing a large splodge of cream onto his hands, he lifted the edge of her beach dress out of the way and began to apply it. “Stop it!” she shrieked out with loud giggles. “That tickles!”

“You mean this…?” he asked as he swept his fingertips over her back, making her squirm even more. “No, you can’t mean that!”

“That is it! You are getting your kit off right now, and you will bare your chest to that thing up in the sky called a sun,” she threatened. She added emphasis to her words by tackling the buttons of his shirt and yanking off his tie. 

He laughed hard at the absurdity of her undressing him. He laughed right up to the point when they were kneeling face to face, chest to chest, and skin to skin; and then he inevitably sobered. The bottle of sunscreen was ignored as he grasped her head, bringing her lips closer until he dipped forward. “Donna…,” he whispered.

His eyes fluttered shut as he landed softly to kiss her tempting lips; and then an extremely strong hand gripped the back of his collar and yanked him away.

“Doctor?!” Donna yelled as he was pulled away from her body, leaving her grasping at air.

Some massive being with fists the size of small dogs handed her a piece of paper. “You have violated code order number 7-2b!” it growled at her.

“That’s my husband you’ve just run off with!” she angrily pointed out, having glanced expertly at the paper outlining the offense they had caused. “Not some punter! Bring him back right now or I’ll sue the backside off you! Off the pair of you,” she added to include both the beings wavering in front of her on the beach.

The Doctor couldn’t be heard apart from a few muffles, thanks to the hand that had been clamped firmly over his mouth.

Donna went into full manic pregnant woman mode. “I’m not warning you again! Hand him back NOW!” she roared at the beings and bore down on them menacingly.

“But he… was going to abuse your sacred body,” the one holding the Doctor stammered in its defence.

Donna held up her hand and ring finger in demonstration. “He’s allowed to touch me, you half-baked walking potato scumbag! We’re MARRIED! What part of that don’t you understand?!”

Two hours later Donna was sat slumped on a bench outside what passed for a courthouse on the planet, waiting for the Doctor to be reunited with her. The décor was atrocious! Even Laurence Llewellyn Bowen wouldn’t have dreamed up something so outlandish. Plus, a little bit of padding on the seats wouldn’t have gone amiss. 

“Donna Noble, your property is ready for you,” announced someone in the distance; right before the Doctor and a beach bag were shoved towards her.

They hugged each other enthusiastically. “We’re going to have to give up these beach holidays,” the Doctor told her. “They’re proving to be a bit of a bind.”

“I’m sorry for wanting a beach,” she immediately apologised, hugging him again.

He wiped a thumb tenderly over her cheek. “Hey! Don’t worry. I’m the one that should be worried, what with everyone thinking I’m married to a convicted felon,” he teased.

“Don’t!” she exclaimed with deep embarrassment. “Not that they totally had it coming… What with all the grabbiness.” She flexed her fingers in remembrance.

“Of course,” he agreed, grinning like an idiot. “They deserved every slap and wallop.” He reached down to grasp her hand. “Ready for our next adventure?”

“Bring it on, Dr Husband,” she answered. “Almost anything has to be better than this place.”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Donna changed her tune about that once they landed in the Library, and even more so when he tricked her into being transported into the TARDIS. 


	4. Chapter 4

It had started off pleasantly enough. Well, when I say pleasantly, I really mean weirdly. Weird in a ‘where the heck is everyone?’ way. The whole place was deserted; and for a whole planet, known as The Library, that was decidedly weird and scary. The scary part started when the lights started going out; just after that creepy node.

“It’s got a face!” Donna had exclaimed in shock. “It’s got a face that it thought I’d like!”

“It’s just like donating a park bench,” the Doctor had commented in a vain attempt to calm her down. Perhaps pointing out it had once been a real person hadn’t been such a good idea in hindsight.

On the other hand, it had given him an opportunity to hug her closely in public, and she didn’t always allow that. Junior had kicked against his hand as he ran it over her bump; and the feeling sent a thrill through him. It also made him determined to protect her with his last breath. “Donna, fancy a look around?” he had asked her; trying to entice her with his eager schoolboy expression.

“Try stopping me,” she had answered keenly. “I’m making the most of still being able to run.”

“Just don’t expect piggybacks later, that’s all I’m saying for now,” he teased.

She snorted her derision. “I’m more likely to get lean back bacon, but thanks for even thinking about it.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to admit that he was thinking much more pleasant thoughts where she was concerned as they strolled along, when he noticed the lights. Or should that be the lack of lights? “Run!” he had shouted; so they had ran.

Donna was most impressive as she kicked down a wooden door that the sonic wouldn’t budge. It was also enlightening, and slightly threatening, when she admitted the element of surprise was needed with boyfriends. Did they mean that she would kick down his bedroom door at some point.. possibly.. you know, if he ever got her to admit they were anywhere near being like that? It was quite thrilling too, in a way.

He was about to tell her some of his thoughts when he noticed the retro- football webcam thing. 

Things went downhill after that. Especially when the suits arrived.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Donna glared at the interloper in the white spacesuit. The tart was muscling in on the Doctor, giving him all the giggly girl act when she thought Donna wasn’t looking. ‘The utter bitch!’ Donna thought. She’d have thought something lots worse, but for some reason her pregnancy hormones were affecting her memory. They’d done nothing to affect her need to slap someone into next Tuesday though. Funny that!

She had taken the opportunity to saunter over to him to softly enquire, “What’s going on Dr Husband? Is the Klingon giving you grief?”

He looked briefly up from his task to answer her question. “Klingon, Mrs Wife? Oh! You mean ‘cling on’! Well, she claims she knows me in the future. Who’s to say whether or not that’s true? This could be our bunny boiler moment,” he suggested, grinning broadly at her.

A thunderous expression crossed her features. That would entail him straying, and she’d be damned if she let that happen to her again! Through gritted teeth, she commented, “You may act like the Energiser Bunny at times but if you _dare_ play hide the thimble with that woman, I swear I shall hunt you down with a double-barrelled shotgun. And the last words you shall ever hear will be me saying ‘what’s up, doc?’”

“Donna!” he crooned soothingly, wrapping his arms instantly around her. He kissed her forehead. “Why would I let some bimbo turn my head away from you, eh? We’re the three musketeers; me, you and junior. There’s no way I’d look elsewhere. You know how I feel.”

“Do you mean that?” she whispered, searching his eyes for the truth.

He poured everything into his returning gaze. “I… Hang on! Why has he got a second shadow? ” he suddenly queried as the pilot of the exploration team caught his attention.

There followed a whirlwind experiment that led to the discovery that the planet was being attacked by the Vashta Nerada. Who’d have thought they would encounter flesh eating zombie books? Well, no one who was wise enough to lay a bet on it, that was for sure!

“Spaceman, is junior safe?” Donna agitatedly asked him, grabbing his arm when she got the chance. “Shouldn’t we have one of those spacesuits too?”

He had carefully considered her. “You know what? You’re right. Come on!”

“Where?” she asked as he dashed her along. “Why are we going this way?” she wondered as they ran passed a display of fancy looking pens that would go rather nicely with her…

“Donna!” he yelled. “The little shop always has an exit. So stand right there for a second, while I…”

And then he flickered from her vision; and she flickered from his. The bastard! He had sent her away at the first opportunity, and there was going to be hell to pay!

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

A tall, rather attractive man wearing glasses greeted her. “Hello, Donna,” he brightly said.

She returned the greeting, and swept her gaze over the unfamiliar room. “Where am I?”

“You’ve been ill,” he explained in his extremely soothing voice. It was the sort of voice that made you trust him immediately and want to lie down in a chocolate cake; if you have that sort of sleeping fantasy, and not because you are a kinky wombat or anything… Anyway, it was a nice voice. Let’s say no more about it.

Donna ran her hands down her body to check that she was all there, and instantly frowned. “Wasn’t I pregnant, erm… whatever your name is?” she asked the man.

“I’m Dr Moon,” he supplied. “You thought you were pregnant; and then you forgot.”

“So I did,” she agreed. She then looked around, seeking someone. “Where’s my husband? He always fixes things.”

“Ah! I have something to tell you,” Dr Moon admitted, and led her into the landscaped garden that surrounded the hospital they stood in.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Donna found herself walking by a small lake flanked by a line of trees. “About your husband, Donna,” Dr Moon was telling her, looking very concerned as they walked along. “John was in a very serious accident. The same one you were in. Don’t worry…” He held a hand up when she went to interrupt him with questions. “…he isn’t dead, but the prognosis isn’t good.” Dr Moon then stopped and faced her, placing a consoling hand on her arm. “He might never come out of his coma, and you have to prepare yourself for the worst.”

She threw a hand over her mouth in shock. “Oh my God! But he can’t die; I won’t give up on him. He’s all I’ve got. I love him, Dr Moon!” she declared.

“I know,” Dr Moon soothed her. “Would you like to see him?”

Donna had no sooner nodded her head in agreement then she was in the Intensive Care Unit, looking down at John’s lifeless body as machines blipped and tubes pumped vital nutrients into his body. “John!” she cried out, and rushed forward to hold his hand; grasping it desperately in a vain attempt to reach him. Why did his name sound so wrong to her? This was the man she loved after all. She’d been married to him for as long as she could remember.

“Donna, why don’t you go and rest?” a passing nurse asked her.

“No, I won’t,” she insisted sternly. “I’m not leaving him again. Bad things happen when we are separated.”

So the nurse shook her head and left her there.

The next time Donna glanced out of the window the season had changed. Hadn’t it been autumn when she had sat down there? It was clearly Spring outside when she lifted her head from where it rested against John’s arm. The appearance of Dr Moon made her start.

“I think it is time for you to move on,” he suggested gently.

But Donna shook her head, as before. “No,” she replied firmly. “I’m staying here. He needs me; I just can’t get up and walk away.”

“You need to meet fresh people, start a new life for yourself,” Dr Moon advised her. “It doesn’t look like he will be joining you after all.”

“I don’t want to!” she answered, surprising herself by bursting into tears. “He’s my life!”

As she said the words the machine that had been bleeping let out a low monotonous tone, and she struggled to grasp his hand.

The next thing Donna was aware of was standing by a grave; an established grave with a stone that bore the inscription: ‘John Peter Noble, Beloved husband of Donna’ 

‘This is wrong; this is so wrong!’ kept ringing through her head. As she lifted her head to try and scream her way out of this nightmare Dr Moon appeared by her side, offering much needed support.

“Come and meet some other people,” he cajoled her.

She had barely agreed when she found herself sitting with a friendly looking group of people. One man kept trying to get her to smile back at him, but she didn’t want to consider anyone else yet.

“I see you’ve got a new man in your life,” Dr Moon remarked to her.

“Have I?” she asked with some surprise, and was amazed to see the smiling man standing by her side.

“Yes, you met Lee here,” Dr Moon informed her. 

She went to question this, when Dr Moon’s image stuttered and the Doctor stood in his place.

“Donna!” he cried out in anguish.

“John!” she yelled out and reached for him, but he fizzled away, leaving Dr Moon in his place. “I just saw John! What have you done with him?” she demanded. 

Dr Moon merely smiled patronisingly at her. “You thought you were alone so you conjured up John, and then you forgot.”

Donna blinked a few times. What had she been thinking about? Something about missing someone, apparently. This was becoming too much; she felt so tired…

And then she was in her lonely bedroom, getting ready for bed; when something fell through the letterbox. Wondering who on earth would be delivering anything so late; she peeped out of the window and saw a figure in black with a familiar gait.

Racing to the front door, she found a note. It cryptically said that the world was all wrong. Wrong? She wanted to meet the mysterious woman… and suddenly she was; standing by the large tree that overshadowed John’s grave. “Who are you, and what do you want from me?” Donna instantly asked. It only took a few moments, but she knew this woman was what was left of Miss Evangelista after she died in the Library.

“Look around you,” she advised Donna. “It’s all the same.”

In confusion, Donna stumbled away. What the heck was Miss Evangelista on about? Okay, she might have traded in IQ points when her looks were taken away but surely she’d got it wrong? At that point Donna happened to glance at the grave next to her. What?! But it said… as did the next grave, and the next! Where exactly was John?! Had she been mourning a carbon copy? This suggested that her grief wasn’t real at all!

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

There was a blaze of light surrounding her, and then she was being sucked into another dimension. One that was miles darker, and smelt of damp wood. She was standing on what looked like a glorified speak your weight machine in the Library little shop, and for quite a few seconds she had no idea where she was or even who she was. She was just a cork bobbing in the sea of faces that greeted her sight.

She pushed through the crowd expecting to see someone, but not quite knowing who. It was a he; that part was a definite. Now if she could only recall what he looked like… He was old, and yet not, and he had hair. She scoffed at herself then! Fancy speaking to herself about him in terms of his hair. It wasn’t as if every other bloke was completely bald, after all.

Although wouldn’t it be funny if that fluffy hairstyle was a complete fake and he wore a wig? And that suit could easily cover up a robot body. A body that frequently snuggled up close and enticingly next to hers in bed, hugging her tightly, and sweeping those ripe, full lips against her skin. How many times had she wanted to shag him senseless, but had deliberately battled on to resist him? What a stupid cow she was!

Her hands immediately fluttered to her stomach, and she let out an agonised gasp. She had forgotten about junior! How could she have possibly done that? It was unthinkable, and she wanted to weep for her stupidity. The Doctor would disown her at this rate. 

The Doctor! That was his name. Where was he? Had he truly abandoned her? Had that tart got her claws into him, and she’d have to commit a murder, or a double murder, by the end of the day? Because she would! With her bare hands if necessary. 

“Ah! You’re back!” exclaimed a familiar voice as a hand grabbed hers and shook it violently. Donna found herself gazing at a spacesuit holding the form of Mr Lux. “It worked; they managed to save everyone from the computer.”

“They?” Donna faintly echoed.

“The Doctor and Professor Song. They were down by the core together,” he explained.

‘I bet they were!’ Donna found she was fuming. “Where?!” she demanded. “Where exactly is the core?”

Mr Lux looked confused. “Over there on the elevator pad,” he said, pointing in the necessary direction.

“Thanks!” Donna replied, and stormed over to take a ride down to the core. “You’d better be dying and injured, Doctor,” she muttered to herself as she travelled down.

Donna found him, eventually, handcuffed to a pipe as he sat glumly regarding Professor River Song’s body. She had to squat down in front of him before he reacted; so lost in his thoughts was he. Then she spotted the sonic screwdriver just out of his reach, and she realised how agonising his plight must have been. “Oh Spaceman!” she sighed as she released his wrist from the handcuff.

His body sunk into her embrace. “Is it really you, or is this a dream?” he faintly asked her. “Are you a ghost?”

She sniffed back some tears, and tenderly caressed his face. “It’s me, Donna, Spaceman. Alive and kicking. Well, when I say kicking it’s junior doing all that.” To add emphasis to her words she pressed his hand onto her stomach; and junior complied with a wee squirm.

The Doctor grinned as he felt the tiny movements against his hand. “It really is you!” he softly exclaimed. In the next instant he was crushing his mouth down onto hers, and she felt powerless to resist; giving him the comfort he demanded. She also grabbed a few moments of comfort for herself as she fought to ignore the memories of her fictitious life inside the computer. In fact she wanted to swoon and die beneath his lips.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“I’m sorry for earlier…” the Doctor started to say when they crawled into bed later. “I didn’t mean to compromise you.”

Donna snuggled up next to him. “Shh! Don’t worry,” she said gently. “You were upset about River.”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t just that. She shouldn’t have died like that, but I… I was thinking…” His voice broke as he said, “I thought you were dead; both of you. And I… I can’t bear the thought of losing you!”

Donna wrapped him up in her embrace, trying desperately to sooth him. “We’re here; alive and well,” she told him softly. “And I have no intention of leaving; not now, not ever.”

He lifted his head to gain eye contact. “Why, Donna?” he asked. “I need to know why you’re saying that.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” she blustered.

There was a smile that played about his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “No, it isn’t obvious enough to me,” he admitted. “So… what’s your answer?”

She looked a bit shifty for a few seconds as she sought to collect her real thoughts. “I erm… I love being here with you. I love the adventure; you make me feel fantastic, and you’re a great hugger,” she said while he listened patiently.

“Hugs?!” His expression turned sour. “I see…” He blew out a sigh. “I’m not what you w-… Actually, I’m bloody angry!” he huffed.

“Why?” she demanded.

“Oh come on! You know the game by now. You’re practically being a cock tease,” the Doctor exploded as suppressed rage warred in him. 

“Well excuse me for caring! I shall take everything I give you and take it elsewhere,” she countered, using her glare of death.

He sighed in resignation; it didn’t look as though he would ever get a straight answer out of her. “Just out of interest, what would you say you give to me, Donna?” he softly asked.

She made a scoffing sound. “Are you losing your mind? Where has all this come from? I disappear into a computer for a few hours and you come over all angsty!”

“I thought you were dead! Can’t you see that can change things? I can’t believe you are dismissing my feelings!” he protested. 

Oh! How the hell should she react now? Donna nervously licked her lips, and drew her feelings nearer to protect them. “The thing is, Doctor, I don’t know what to say about this… us… everything,” she ventured. “And I know I should have done some things differently. In the computer you were my husband, and you died!” The tears were dribbling down her cheeks now. “I thought I was going mental when you appeared in front of me…”

“Actually, you appeared in front of me,” he corrected.

She waved her hands dismissively. “The point is, I was so glad it hadn’t been real, that you are alive, that I almost would have accepted any relationship with you.”

“But,” he encouraged her to talk more. “There’s a ‘but’ coming up, isn’t there?”

Donna nodded. “But when I found out you were with River in the core I saw red. I’m sorry! That’s why I let you kiss me like it was going out of fashion. It’s all my fault,” she finished saying in a very small voice.

The Doctor considered this, before making his logical decision. “Then I’d better take the blame for this,” he stated as he moved closer.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\


	5. Chapter 5

Donna woke up feeling happier than she had any right to be. Wrapped around her was the Doctor, who seemed to be in his own little dream heaven, judging by the expression on his face. As she considered the best way to wake him up she trailed a fingertip along his arm, just about managing to resist pulling on some of the dark brown hairs there. The act made him move in response, and he woke up rubbing his chin on her shoulder.

“Hello,” he greeted her warmly, and ran his hand over her baby bump. “Hello, junior,” he said as he did so.

She stretched and used the opportunity to turn over to face him. “Hello, Spaceman. Did you have a nice sleep?”

“I always do after I’ve kissed you,” he told her, nudging nearer until he could brush their lips together. “I think that’s a good enough reason to keep doing this.”

There was no answer to that except a loud delighted giggle from Donna. 

“I want to treat you. Take you somewhere beautiful.” He then nodded knowingly. “Yes, I keep saying that, but I really want to visit somewhere different. How does the spa planet of Midnight sound?”

She looked up at him with delight. “It sounds wonderful!”

 

She didn’t think it sounded so great when he suggested going on a long journey on a space shuttle to view the diamond waterfalls. “Four hours to get there, on a bus? With no doubt a teeny tiny toilet that I’d find harder to get into than the Royal family, and a bout of morning sickness that’d have me hugging the toilet pan for the whole way?! No thank you,” she told him with feeling. “So it’s no good you begging me.”

“But Donna…!” he tried to persuade her.

“Sorry, Spaceman, but I am staying here where I can visit the bathroom whenever I like,” she retorted. Planting a brief consoling kiss on his lips, she added, “Bring me back something pretty if you can; but just come back.”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Donna would think of those words when he reappeared several hours later, broken beyond her wildest fears. It didn’t need him to utter one word to get her to rush to him and throw her arms around his neck; hugging him tight. He clung onto her, using her as his lifeline, his anchor in a sea of anguish, for what seemed an eternity. When he did find the means to explain what had happened on board Crusader 50, the tears had freely flowed on his behalf.

How could they have been so cruel as to think he would want to harm them? Why did they think murder was the answer? All he had done was ask questions; like he always did. She had almost lost her wonderful friend, her lover, her mate; her all in life.

When they had returned to their bed later in the TARDIS, she was determined to demonstrate just how much he meant to her. Not using words but deeds, she loved him with all her heart, her soul and her body. It wasn’t enough for what he deserved, but it was everything she could offer. 

Never again would she hold herself back and deny him their love, she vowed. And doing so, she thanked every deity that existed in the universe for giving her the opportunity to make amends.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The following morning the Doctor and Donna happily walked through a vibrant market on a planet called Shan Shen. This was the proper start of their honeymoon, he had said, and she had eagerly agreed with this statement. Nothing could mar their little bubble of happiness as they tasted various delicacies, held each other close, and made the most of this moment of quiet togetherness.

It was about half an hour after they had drunk their fill of some concoction that looked like a mixture between Guinness and hot chocolate that Donna announced her need to find a public convenience. Bloody pregnancy incontinence! It reared its head at the most inappropriate moments. 

“Hurry back,” the Doctor had whispered into her ear when they had spied such a place. “I’ll be waiting by the jewellery stall, and you know how impulsive I can get.”

“Prawn!” she had chided him, swatting at his arm. “No wandering off; but if you fancy treating me to something gold or expensive, don’t let me stop you.” 

They waved at each other until she disappeared through a marked door, both feeling the thrill of being in this exquisitely different market. As Donna later made her way back towards her now official husband, a woman dressed in red stepped out in front of her. 

“Lady hear her fortune?” she had offered in some broken language that probably wasn’t English but merely translated as it. “Find out if you be happy?”

“I’m already happy, thanks,” Donna had tried to dismiss her, eager to get back to her lover.

“It free for lady with red hair today,” the fortune-teller had continued to try and entice her. “Find out your baby fortune.”

“Oh, go on then,” Donna had relented. What harm could it do? She was only a few feet away from the Doctor after all.

It was a thought she would very quickly regret as the smell of incense transported her to another world, and another universe.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Would this nightmare ever end? It didn’t seem like it. Donna’s world was full of everlasting morning sickness, poverty, hardship, and nagging. She sighed as she swept her gaze for the umpteenth time around the tiny dim and dingy room they sat in.

“Are you ever going to drop that baby?” Sylvia asked her daughter, exasperation as clear in her tone as the bile that dripped through her words. “It feels like you’ve been up the duff forever. Not that I’m keen to see your bastard or feed it once it is here.”

“Mum, do you have to be so horrible?” Donna had cried, giving her stomach a consoling rub. “My baby is innocent; and so am I. Do I really have to keep reminding you that I have no idea who the father is?”

“Says you,” Sylvia spat beneath her breath. “Little Miss Perfect, according to you. There was no dream with the angels, and no wise men are likely to turn up here.”

“Sylv, leave the girl alone,” Wilf defended his granddaughter. “She’s got enough to cope with without you adding to it.”

“She wasn’t frightened of adding to my lot, was she?!” Sylvia retorted. “No money, no work, not a jot in months, and soon there’ll be another mouth for me to feed on the same rations. I didn’t ask for this.”

“None of us did,” Wilf reminded her. “But at least you knew who the father of your babies was.”

A deep scowl was his answer as Sylvia sat glaring silently at him. How dare he bring that up at a time like this! 

“I’m going for a walk,” Donna announced, and heaved her body off the kitchen chair she was perching on. “Perhaps it’ll clear some of the stale air in here.”

Moments later she left the small terrace house they had been assigned to in Leeds after London had been obliterated, and slowly made her way down the quiet dark street towards an open space. 

The calm before a storm, she felt as she looked up into the night sky. It all looked so beautiful up there as familiar constellations twinkled in all their glory. Except something didn’t look quite right…

As the thought struck her, there was a flash of light to the side of her and then that blonde girl broke into view. It was as if the young woman was stalking her. Funnily enough, it soon became crystal clear that she had been.

“The blonde hair might work on some but it won’t wash with me!” Donna had protested when the mysterious woman had tried to talk her into doing some dangerous sounding favour. 

“I thought we only needed the Doctor but we need both of you together,” the blonde had insisted. “Think of your unborn child. They won’t live unless you help me.”

“Oh yeah? Is that a threat?” Donna demanded to know, jabbing an irate finger at this know-it-all tart. “You’ve already told me that I’m gonna die, so what are you going to do; nick my child as soon as he is born? You make me sick! Swanning in here as if you’re God’s gift to men, expecting me to believe you when you won’t even tell me your name.”

“Donna, doing this is your child’s only chance,” the blonde had countered. “If you don’t do this then nothing will exist. You have to go back to the Doctor.”

“What exactly is this Doctor to you?” Donna wondered suspiciously. 

“Him and me were together,” the woman quietly boasted, “but he needs you in the other universe.”

It seemed like a bloody stupid idea to Donna, but if it would be a better world if she tried to get to this Doctor the mad bitch kept banging on about like a publicist, and her baby would be safe, then she’d give it a go. This world was totally bonkers as it was, let alone the stars in the sky gradually disappearing. 

It carried on being bonkers when she was placed in the middle of a load of mirrors, with wires from some poor gutted space craft providing a temporal feed that would make her time travel. Yeah, as if! But she had to believe it would work, that a better world existed; that the Doctor needed her to meet him. Because this world was horrible beyond compare.

As she lay dying in the middle of a west London street, beneath the wheels of a lorry some hours later, Donna wished she hadn’t listened to the woman. Not only had she had to run at a fast rate of knots before chucking herself in the path of an innocent lorry driver, but the blonde cow had obviously beamed herself there without any effort at all. If she had had any energy left, Donna would had told the bitch where she should go and shove her message for the Doctor, as she lay at death’s door. Alas, Donna could only close her eyes and merely hope the blonde would get clean out of her face.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Whatever the morality of some canine creature had to do with the price of meat was anybody’s guess, but when the Doctor had released his tight hold of her in shock, she knew it wasn’t something he wanted to hear. Far from it. His eyes had bulged and his freckles had stood out on his crooked nose as though some toddler had attacked him with a marker pen.

There was something really important Donna had to tell the Doctor about her blonde stalker in the alternate universe. She knew it wasn’t good, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember why she felt that way about her; only that she did. But telling him those two simple words had caused all sorts of trouble. Trouble he could do well without. 

At least she now knew the name of her stalker; and the news was nowhere near to be being consoling. Rose; the annoying blonde had turned out to be Rose Tyler, like some awful revealing magic trick. That was all Donna needed. Joy of joys. She had been whisked off to some evil alternate universe, put through all sorts of indignities that were fortunately fading quickly from her memory, found out some horrible insect had been a parasite on her back, put there by something called the Trickster’s Brigade, and now her personal future was in question. In fact, she felt as though her days were numbered; in figures under two. It might be better to count in hours rather than days, come to think of it, because this was the Rose that poor Martha had been held up against and found wanting. If a beautiful woman like Martha couldn’t win any points, how on earth would Donna herself score anything in her favour? In light of that, it was best she started packing right away.

To top it all, it had taken an eternity to find Earth, it was dark, she was freezing and she needed to pee. But she had no choice for a few minutes. Yet again the Doctor asked her what Rose had said as they stepped outside the TARDIS. Not your ideal place, standing on the eerily empty London street near her previous home, on a planet that had been ripped from its usual orbit by marauding Daleks; whatever they were. 

Turning her head as she tried to think, Donna saw a familiar flash of light from that other world, and a suddenly equally recognisable sight appeared. This was it. She was done for. All she had left now was her dignity; and her unfilled suitcases.

“Why don’t you ask her?” Donna softly asked him as she spied the distant figure of Rose. If River had been a tart, what on earth was Rose in comparison? A home-wrecker? The woman who would readily steal the father of her child? Although ‘that damn blonde’ fitted the bill for all of these.

Excitedly, the Doctor started to run towards Rose, hardly thinking as he sped down the street. His attention was so distracted he didn’t even notice the Dalek that swivelled out to shoot him; and he sunk like a stone.

It was Jack who rescued him, blipping into being like the cavalry. For some reason carrying a bloody big gun didn’t make Rose capable of using it on a huge and dangerous Dalek. With a couple of swift shots, Jack dispatched the Dalek to Dalek heaven, or hell, whichever was more applicable. “Get him into the TARDIS!” he yelled.

Donna did her level best to help heave the Doctor into the TARDIS, but her pregnancy bump rather hindered her movements. Jack didn’t need a list of instructions to know he should steer well clear of Donna for his own safety. Nope, the wedding ring would have been a dead giveaway if the pregnancy hadn’t caught his immediate attention.

Fearing for both women, he held them as regenerative energy flowed from the Doctor, and they shielded their eyes.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Stupid stupid Donna!” she loudly chastised herself, just after she had ineffectively yelled for the Doctor to come to the rescue as the TARDIS plummeted to God knows where.

The whole room rolled and jerked before landing somewhere with a massive wham. Then to her horror, various fittings burst into flame, sending acrid smoke into the air. To say this was not turning out to be a good day, let alone a romantic honeymoon, would have been an understatement. 

She’d done her best to not be a jealous harridan, she really had; stepping back to let the Doctor have a private moment of reconciliation with Rose. But the fact was, she wanted to punch her lights out, after tearing every single dyed hair off her smug head! All that feigned coyness… Ugh! How could he not even notice it? 

Of course he didn’t. He was too busy enjoying being put up on a pedestal, glorifying in all that adoration being beamed in his direction. The twonk! Now she understood perfectly what Martha had said about him going into a dolly daydream over Rose; because it made her want to slap him into the next century. Talk about clueless. Did he not want to think about how that dimension canon thing Rose had boasted about had been constructed or the consequences of her hopping from universe to universe? Judging by that stupid grin he’d had on his face the answer was a big fat ‘no’. 

Talking of being fat, Donna’s only consolation had been that she still had her baby to consider in her life as the rest of it began to crumble away. But now even that was about to be taken away from her as the TARDIS rolled about and sparks flew up everywhere that started up small fires that scared the bejesus out of her. 

Amongst the deep feeling of doom was the sound of a steady heartbeat. She’d been hearing that in the background all day, but now it was really obvious, and seemed to be coming from the jar under the console holding the Doctor’s spare hand.

“My baby!” Donna cried out as she reached for the jar on the TARDIS floor, somehow knowing this was her only hope of saving her baby’s life. That was paramount over saving her own life in that moment.

The glass shattered, throwing the hand held within onto the grating by the console.

Light pulsed from it and a stream of lava grew into the shape of a humanoid. A young man, to be exact, as sparks twinkled away. A very young man, now that she could see him properly; with a familiar look about him. He was barely into his teens, if that. 

He shot up into a seated position and they stared at each other in shock. 

“Who are you? And you’re naked!”

“I know, Mum!” the lad on the floor wailed. “What’s happening?”

“You what?! What do you mean, ‘Mum’? Are you some sort of future projection or other?” she gasped out as her first reaction, and then hastily scooted over to place a consoling hand on his arm. “It’s alright, sweetheart. Well, when I say it’s alright, it isn’t really. The TARDIS went on some rollercoaster ride, things have burst into flames, and we’re trapped in here.”

“I’m your son. Half you, half Doctor,” he supplied. “And I know how to get us out of here. Hang on a tick…” He hauled himself up onto his unsteady legs, leaned over the console, and pushed a large blue button. “That should do it! We’re now in the Vortex,” he cheerily declared as he smiled brightly at her shocked face. The whole place moved, the room cooled whilst the smoke dissipated, returning things to normal. “Can I… Can I say hello to my baby brother?” he asked as he held out a hand over her stomach. 

“Don’t you mean half-brother,” she reasoned, frowning at him.

“Nope!” he proclaimed, popping the ‘p’. “I got most of Dad’s DNA regenerative energy, but some of it backfired into your womb. My brother now has three parents. You, Dad and Peter. Isn’t that wizard.”

“Yeah,” Donna reluctantly agreed, suddenly feeling awfully faint. “This is bonkers! You hear of trees being spliced and grafted but you never think it’d happen to you. Is this how Time Lords reproduce? Lop a bit off and stick it on to something else?”

“Nah!” the boy disagreed, now feeling confident enough to step away. “I’m a unique event in time, as is my brother. Ain’t another one like me; not quite. I grew out of you.”

“You can say that again.” Could this get any weirder? At least they were safe, for now. “Do your old mum a favour,” she requested, holding out a hand towards him as he bounced around the room, investigating everything and anything.

He eagerly ran over and took her hand. “Anything, Mum. What do you want?”

“Help me get up. This grating ain’t doing my bum any good,” she begged. “Oh, and another thing…”

“What’s that?” he queried, heaving with all his might to help her up.

She took great delight in saying, “Get some bloody clothes on. It’s bad enough when your dad flashes me his pale flesh without seeing your backside dancing about.”

“Oh!” He blushed a deep beetroot colour. “I’ll erm… do that right away,” he stated, pointing towards the wardrobe. “Right before I make you a cup of tea.” 

“Good lad,” she purred in thanks. “I could get to like you; quite a lot.” 

This instant parenthood had a lot going for it.


	6. Chapter 6

There was a low level throbbing pain in Donna’s head as Andy babbled on, excitedly telling her his plan to combat the Daleks. Apparently a bit more than the Doctor’s intelligence had rubbed off on him; in fact he’d got the jackpot. His head was filled with useful memories too; most of them from the Doctor, but he’d gained a few from her, thanks to the metacrisis. It was hard to tell which parent he’d gained the most gobbiness from, but Donna would naturally swear it wasn’t from her. 

It was all Donna could do to keep up with the technical terms that were spouting out of his mouth as he pulled various bits and bobs from under the grating, and started to fashion together a device to help him in his quest. It looked rather like a tea strainer stuck on the end of a police speed gun to her as she sat on the pilot seat, watching him avidly as he squatted by her feet, animatedly explaining everything he did. 

Aw, could he not be more adorable, she thought; grinning fondly in encouragement. “So this’ll affect them through the Dalek boss,” she queried, trying to get to grips with all that he had said about genetic links.

“Davros,” he corrected. “What do you think?” he asked as he held up his Heath Robinson concoction for her approval. “This should do the trick, if I can get close enough to home in on his DNA.”

Donna instantly cupped his face, glowing with new maternal pride. “You’ll do it, Andy, and rescue us all. You’re just like your dad in the brainy department, thank God, and not like me. I can’t even change a plug.”

Andy gasped in protest. “Don’t talk about yourself like that. You’re brilliant, Mum. Dad always says so,” he insisted. 

“Well, he would; he’s delusional,” she modestly stated. “And rather gorgeous, in a dazzling sort of way,” she whispered conspiratorially, “but don’t tell him I said that. His ego is big enough for two as it is.” They shared a small knowing laugh together. The TARDIS softly bumped them, letting them know that the Crucible would soon be outside, and Donna took a hasty gulp to steady her nerves. “Things might be a little different for me now that he’s got Rose back. But you’re not to worry about all that, do you hear me. Whatever happens, I love you. Now and for always. Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” he replied through a low breath as they landed. “Now remember, don’t come out there. We want you both safe.”

“Hark at you!” she laughed. “You sound like a little old man.”

He grew stern and frowned at her. “I mean it, Mum. Nothing bad must happen to you.”

She hugged him tight for as long as she could. “Promise, darling. Love you,” she vowed as she released him.

“Love you too, Mum,” he mouthed as he turned to run out of the TARDIS doors towards his destiny. 

Outside was the Dalek Crucible, Davros, and his dad captured within a holding cell. His attention wasn’t on anything else as he rushed nearer to aim his weapon. But he hadn’t reached halfway across the deck to his destination before a bolt of energy sent him painfully to the floor, and he was locked inside his own force field prison. 

As it slammed into being, completely encircling him, Andy rapidly noted that his father was not alone in the room. Others were also imprisoned, recognisable from the Doctor’s memories. The most notable one was the young blonde woman in the cell close by his father’s side. It was his first personal view of Rose Tyler, and he took the opportunity to examine her. Ah, now he understood his mother’s misgivings because Rose had obviously reclaimed owner’s rights. But all of that was instantly forgotten when he heard a fearful cry behind his right side. 

“Andy!” Donna shrieked in terror and, acting on pure maternal instinct, launched herself out of the TARDIS in a vain attempt to rescue him.

Another arc of energy from Davros’ arm hit her fair and square in the stomach, flinging her backwards, and causing her to hit a bank of instruments near the back wall good and hard.

Absolutely terrified, Andy shrieked, “Mum!!”

“Donna!” the Doctor simultaneously cried out. 

From a nearby cell, Martha looked sympathetically on. She could only guess what horrors were going through the Doctor’s mind at seeing Donna being flung about like a discarded rag doll. The question about who the boy was could easily wait until later.

The Dalek countdown continued on, eking out the last rels and seconds of the universe. And then a miracle happened. Donna glowed for the second time that day, her eyes in particular shone with a golden light; she pulled herself up, and hit the off button. Seconds later the holding cells were deactivated, the Daleks were switched off from the mainframe, and the sequence to return the planets began.

“Well, don’t just stand there, you skinny boys in suits,” Donna chided the astonished Doctor and Andy once they were released from their prisons. “Get to work helping me send these planets home!”

“Of course,” the Doctor spluttered before racing to stand by her side and his fingers alighted on the Crucible controls. “Ready?” A huge grin lit up his face as their hands danced above the keys.

Young Andy beamed with happiness as he did his bit to help, typing away before sending planets home, whilst grinning proudly at his parents as they worked in synch. The assembled Children of Time could only look on with awe as the trio worked together pressing, pulling, slamming and lifting various levers. Explanations took a back seat for now.

It was a moment of triumph that was destined not to last. And it didn’t.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Everybody in!” the Doctor hollered, shooing them towards the TARDIS doors with outstretched arms.

So everyone tore into the safe confines of the TARDIS from the burning wreckage of the Crucible, keen to escape as quickly as possible.

Donna instantly made a grab for Andy’s hand, keen to keep him right by her side; as was he. Nobody was going to tear him away from his mum, even if he had made one teeny tiny mistake that caused all the Daleks to explode. Oops! His dad was going to be furious with him later on. It was best that he made the most of their full house of company to hide behind while he could.

It was Jack who made sure everyone got aboard and started the proper introductions, seeing as the Doctor seemed to be far too busy elsewhere once they were safely gathered around on the ramp. There was a genial atmosphere as the Children of Time smiled at each other in relief and companionship, recognising their unique position.

“Who is this young man?” Martha had asked Donna as soon as she could. “Don’t tell me it’s been that long since I last saw you and this is your second pregnancy!”

“Oh no.” Donna had laughed at the tease. “It’s still the same one,” she supplied, giving her stomach a comforting rub. “Do you remember that hand under the console, the Doctor’s hand? Well, it’s now our Andy here.” She proudly gave his shoulder a possessive squeeze.

Martha gawped in wonder at this new information but others didn’t catch the significance.

“The Doctor allowed your little family on here?” Jackie openly wondered as she edged nearer to join the conversation. “He’s changed his tune since I was last in here. Couldn’t stand me getting in the way of him and Rose; the pair of them. Anyway, how old are you, sweetheart?” She aimed her question towards Andy. “You’re doing a very good job of looking after your mum.”

Wee Andy flicked his gaze to where the Doctor now stood by the console, closely flanked by Rose. “It’s hard to tell when you live in here, but I think I’m ten.”

“You think,” Jackie repeated in confusion.

“It really has been a long time for him,” Donna explained, “locked up as he has been.”

“Bloody Daleks.” Jackie pulled a sympathetic face. “What happened to your dad?” she gently asked.

“He turned stupid,” Andy remarked; causing Martha to splutter and Donna to drag him away a few feet from everyone else. “Mum, he did!” he protested. “Just look at him!”

As it was, Donna had to fight her natural response of striding over to the console and slapping the living daylights out of the Doctor; so she didn’t need this added betrayal. “Enough, Andy. You’ll get us chucked out even quicker than I expected.”

“Surely the Doctor wouldn’t do that to you,” Jackie reasoned as she followed in their wake to continue the conversation.

Andy blurted out, “He would if you ain’t blonde.”

Donna instantly clamped a hand over his mouth to shut him up. “Kids, eh?” she tried to genially comment. 

Fortunately Jackie took it all in her stride. “My Tony is exactly the same,” she commiserated. “Always showing me up when we have people over to the house. Little kids just hate you giving your attention to someone else.”

“Yeah,” Donna forced herself to pleasantly agree. Part of her wanted to retort that her daughter Rose hadn’t stopped doing that, but she managed to stop herself from doing so. “Andy has got a lot to get used to. It’s all been a bit quick.” She then vaguely pointed towards where Rose was almost glued to the Doctor’s side. “Does erm… does your Rose mind you having another child?”

“Who her?” Jackie grumpily questioned as she turned to look at her daughter. “She’s hardly home long enough to notice as it is. All she’s done is go on about the dimension canon she’s been supervising. She hasn’t cared about much else then getting back to the Doctor.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Donna sincerely sympathised. It was crystal clear that Jackie missed and loved her daughter a great deal. 

Jackie tried to stoically acknowledge her words. “It’ll be hard to carry on without her now that Rose has done that and will go back to travelling about with him, but what can I do?”

Take her back with you, flitted through Donna’s mind but she kept schtum. Instead she did her best to look empathetic as she gave Jackie’s arm a gentle consoling touch. 

She wanted to grab it away again when Jackie innocently asked, “Have you been in here long, and what are you and your boy going to do now when you’ve left the TARDIS?” 

Her eyes would have gone wide in surprise anyway, but Andy suddenly digging his fingers into her arm made her yelp out in pain. “Ow! Did you have to?” Donna cried before extracting his hand from her forearm and holding it tight within her own. “We’ve been here for quite a while; on and off. Leaving the TARDIS was the last thing on our minds.” 

“I don’t want to go,” Andy stubbornly announced. “And nobody can make me and my mum.”

“Sweetheart,” Jackie began to say, bending down to gain eye contact, “it’s not the place for a little boy like you. My Rose had to grow up a lot when she joined the Doctor.”

“Was she a complete div?” Andy burst out with.

Oh no. “Andy! Apologise this instant,” Donna demanded. 

His head immediately bent low in shame at hearing her tone. “Sorry Jackie,” he contritely responded. “Sorry Mum.”

Thinking up a suitable punishment, Donna commented, “Just for that, you can make us all tea.”

“Thank gawd for that,” Jackie gushed. “I’m gasping for a cup. No sugar for me, thanks,” she pleasantly informed Andy as he perked up at the thought of being given a task and a means to escape. “He must miss his dad,” Jackie commented to Donna as they watched the boy skip away down the corridor towards the kitchen. 

“Not really,” Donna distractedly answered. 

“That ain’t right,” Jackie remarked to herself. “What does your husband think about you being in here?”

How much should she own up to? Her eyes darted involuntarily towards the Doctor. “Oh, he’s generally okay about it all, you know, but he might have changed his mind lately. I dunno. ” Please don’t ask me why, she silently begged.

“Why would he do that?” Jackie inevitably asked. “Don’t you two get on?”

“We’ve always been best mates,” Donna admitted. She would have said more but she was worried about what Andy was currently up to. “I’d er… better go and see if he’s alright and hasn’t poured water all over himself,” she excused herself; and rushed away before Jackie could ask any more probing questions.

Damn having to be calm and pleasant to everyone! And those bloody pregnancy hormones were turning her into a right wuss, she noted. If she wasn’t careful, any moment now she’d burst into tears, and wouldn’t that be embarrassing for all and sundry.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

They hadn’t been in the kitchen for very long, bustling about, collecting mugs, tea bags and milk to provide a cup of tea for everyone, when the Doctor sneakily peeked around the doorframe and then sauntered in looking pensive.

“Mrs Wife, we have a problem,” the Doctor quietly whispered to her as he edged close.

Relief immediately flooded her mind at hearing the familiar pet name. “What sort of a problem, Dr Husband?” she just as softly asked in return. “I hope you’ve got a note from your teacher to wander about in the corridor?”

“What?” he pondered in confusion until he realised why she’d said it. “I managed to excuse myself by claiming that I needed the loo.”

“And do you?” Donna asked as she whooshed passed him to get to the fridge.

“Nah!” he proudly declared. “I came in here to see you two.”

She laughed. “Careful, that’s dangerously close to being rebellious.”

“I’ve got history,” he smugly pointed out. “Come here,” he pleaded, reaching out towards her in order to wrap his arms around her body. Once she was within his grasp, he tenderly rubbed her baby bump. “I’m so sorry that I’ve not had a chance to come and find out how you are. We need to get you to the med-bay in order to check everything is okay. And you…” He put out a hand towards Andy. “I need to get to know you. Andy, wasn’t it?”

“That’s me,” Andy gleefully agreed as he allowed himself to be held within his parents embrace. “Hello Dad.”

Tears welled up into the Doctor’s eyes as he tried to quash certain memories. “Hello Andy,” he brokenly greeted him in return; adding in a kiss to his smooth forehead. “My, you are a welcome sight. Both of you are. I thought I’d lost you.” 

“Talking of losing,” Donna hesitantly began, pulling away to distance herself, just in case; but Andy held on tight. “Where do we stand now?”

The Doctor gawped at her. “What do you mean?” 

“I mean you and me. Rose is back so…” Just say the words, her head encouraged her; get it over and done with. “Do I… have I been demoted to the reserves, am I on the transfer list, or is this a big enough injury to put me out of the game forever?”

The Doctor’s wide eyes glanced between her fearful stare and the beseeching expression on his son’s face. “Well,” he started to reply.

“I _knew_ it!” she instantly spat out despondently. “It was too good to last.” 

“What’s going on, Doctor?” they heard the voice of Rose question moments before she appeared in the kitchen before the Time family. “There you are. Mum and that Martha girl had said you were probably in here with…” Her voice trailed away as though she had forgotten the name.

“This is Andy, and I’m Donna,” she supplied. “It’s exactly the same name as I had when we met all those times in the alternate universe.”

“Oh yes,” Rose murmured as though she had only just remembered. “You didn’t have a little boy then. Thank goodness you’ll be able to take him home now and keep him safe.”

“Safe from what? There aren’t many marauding lorries in here,” Donna remarked sarcastically.

“Donna,” the Doctor warned her. “Perhaps we could all do with a nice cup of tea,” he carefully enunciated. 

“Come on then, Doctor,” Rose appealed to him, reaching out to take his hand. “Let’s leave Donna to finish making the tea.”

“Excuse me,” Donna interrupted, stepping in front of the Doctor and into Rose’s plans. “But who exactly do you think you are and what do you take me for?”

Bristling, Rose retorted, “I was here first, and I’m back with the Doctor, where I belong. You’re just…” She waved her hand about as she sought the correct word.

“Just the what; the tea lady?! Funny that, because you sure were desperate to get me here when you ripped the TARDIS to pieces so that you could break down the walls between alternate universes,” Donna blazed. “I may not be Rose Tyler, or sit on the pedestal you’ve put yourself, but that doesn’t make me any less of a companion worthy of being in here.”

“May be, but you can leave now,” Rose fumed. “The Doctor doesn’t need you anymore.”

Feeling that Donna’s urge to slap Rose was rising dramatically, the Doctor placed his hand over hers to stop the action. Rose saw the movement as the glint of gold caught her attention; on his and Donna’s left hands as they touched on the kitchen worktop. 

She gasped loudly in shock. “You’ve got wedding rings, matching rings on your wedding fingers. Why’s that?”

Andy could bear the tension no longer. “Because Mum and Dad are married, d’uh!” he proclaimed. 

“WHAT?!” Rose spat. 

Protectively pushing both Donna and Andy behind him, the Doctor quietly spoke as calmly as he could. “Andy is my son, Rose. I thought you understood that. We did explain about the whole hand chopping off and becoming him earlier on, when we were on the Crucible deck.”

There was a meaningful glare at Donna. “That doesn’t explain HER,” Rose raged, “or why you are both wearing rings.”

The Doctor drew in a breath. “Did you really want all this from the very beginning? Very well. Donna has been travelling some months with me now. Soon after she returned to me…”

“Returned?” Rose immediately interrupted with her query.

“Yes, returned. She had been here before,” he patiently answered. 

“When Dad rescued her from marrying someone else,” Andy eagerly added in. “That was the first time he put a ring on her finger.”

“Not quite the time to have mentioned that, son,” the Doctor resignedly commented. “Anyway…”


	7. Chapter 7

The Doctor fidgeted, swaying slightly from side to side, mentally racing through all the possible ways this conversation could go. Rose was about to melt into tears and he really didn’t want to see that again, let alone cause it. Quickly as possible was the best way forward. “The TARDIS brought Donna to me but she couldn’t travel with me then. Her family concerns rather got in the way. We were mistaken for being married from the very beginning, putting us in all sorts of amusing and awkward situations. Fortunately she found me again after Martha left; we have had enormous fun together despite certain complications.” 

“The upshot is that I found out I was pregnant soon after,” Donna continued to tell Rose, wanting to enjoy imparting that piece of information herself. 

“So we became a couple,” the Doctor seamlessly finished. “Married, with rings and everything, as you plainly see.” He broadly smiled enthusiastically, hoping that would lessen the blow.

“Then they had me!” Andy gleefully concluded, grinning from behind his father’s body. 

The sight of him peeping out was quite comical; except Rose wasn’t in an easily amused mood. Instead she frowned heavily as she fought the anger that threatened to overtake her at any second. “You’re married,” Rose repeated through gritted teeth. 

“Isn’t that good news?!” The Doctor would have said more but in that instance he noted a small grimace of pain from Donna and immediately went into protective mode. He wrapped one arm around Donna and took possessive hold of her hand to guide her forward. “Are you okay, love? We need to get you into the med-bay as quickly as possible so that I can scan junior.”

“Thanks,” Donna gratefully acknowledged his concern as a pain made her wince. “I didn’t want to be a bother.”

He smiled reassuringly at her in fondness. “You’re never that.”

“Hang on. You’re married!” Rose fumed, not moving from her spot. “I didn’t come all this way to find out you’re married with children and a pregnant wife!”

“And yet that is what has happened,” the Doctor pleasantly replied. “Excuse us.” He tried again to move Donna forward but Rose refused to budge out of the way.

“Oh no you don’t,” Rose icily protested. “This looks like a one night stand followed by a shotgun wedding, to me. How long is it for you since you told me you loved me on that beach?”

Donna angrily mouthed the words, “One night stand,” as she tensed even further within the Doctor’s grasp.

“It has hardly been a one night stand between us, not that that is any of your business; nor are the circumstances of our wedding,” he retorted. “In my timeline it has been four years since I saw you on that beach, and I never said I loved you.”

“You were going to,” Rose insisted. 

“If I was going to say such a thing then I would have done; but I didn’t,” he maintained. “Now if you would kindly move out of the way, my wife needs some medical assistance. Did I mention that she’s pregnant?” 

“Ugh! How could I forget,” Rose petulantly mumbled.

“If you’ve quite finished talking as if I’m not in the room, would you get out of the bloody way?!” Donna roared at her. “My unborn child is pissed off and will likely make a show of breaking my waters all over your feet if you’re not careful.” 

That did it, and Rose immediately jumped out of the way with a cry of disgust. “You wouldn’t!”

“Just watch me,” Donna seethed. Her back was killing her and this silly little tart wouldn’t get out of the way. It would serve her right if the baby genuinely took umbrage and splattered blood everywhere as he made an unplanned appearance. “I suggest you let my husband do his job, and move your bum from my sight.” She had really wanted to say the word ‘arse’ but there was a minor standing in the room with them; a minor with big ears and a larger vocabulary. “Andy, can you help?”

At last! They were getting away from the kitchen and that glum woman. Eagerly rushing to her side, Andy encouragingly beamed a smile. “Yes, Mum. You can lean on me if you like.”

That was when Rose made her fatal error. “Look at her. Who’d want to be so old and fat you’d have to lean on a brat like that,” she muttered under her breath.

WHAM!

The blow landed on Rose’s face before Donna even had time to think it through. “What did you say, Goldilocks?” Donna blazed. “Want to try saying it properly to my face instead of hiding your snide remarks? Because I will wipe the floor clean with you for upsetting my son!”

The Doctor stepped in front of Donna, turning her attention away from the sight of Rose wailing in pain, and fully on to him. “No,” he sternly told her, “there will no more violence.” His voice went softer as he reached up to tenderly cradle her face. “I know you’re frightened, my love. Have I not always protected you, both you and junior? I swear I will let nothing bad happen to him. I would do anything in my power to keep him safe.”

“But...but. Rose,” she stammered, ashamed that she should feel so threatened. 

“Yes,” he acknowledged, “but we’ll be taking her home to her world, once I’m convinced that you are okay. We’re a team. Have you forgotten that?”

Unbidden tears welled up in her eyes. “What if something’s wrong?” she asked on barely a whisper.

“Then I’ll sort it out,” he confidently soothed her. “Come on, let’s go to the med bay now and find out.” He broke away from caressing her, and turned to guide their movement forward. “Oh! Where has Rose gone?”

“She quickly legged it when you started that yucky stuff with Mum,” Andy supplied, scrunching his face up.

“Yucky stuff?” the Doctor questioned.

“Yeah,” Andy retorted. “I thought you was going to snog. Gross!” 

“Kids!” he huffed as he finally managed to ease Donna out of the kitchen. “Get Jackie to help you, Andy, with the tea. Me and your mum have more pressing matters to deal with.”

He restrained himself from doing nothing more than smile when he heard Andy mutter, “As long I don’t have to see it, you can kiss her as much as you like.” 

“Don’t look at me, he’s your son too,” Donna remarked when he shared a conspiratorial glance. Right before she silently laughed at his expression.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Pop up onto the exam table for me, would you,” he lightly ordered her.

“Are you sure you want me to pop?” she joked. “It could get messy.”

“You know what I mean,” he responded. “But if junior makes a sudden appearance you're in exactly the right place for it.”

“Is he though,” she worriedly asked him, “is he likely to be born today?”

The Doctor did his level best to sound convincing when he answered, “Nah!”

To waylay any further such questions, he busied himself putting on gloves, setting up a scanner, and brought out some gel. This was one of the times he was thankful for her sarcastic sense of humour.

“I suppose you want me to expose myself to you,” she quipped, lowering the waistband of her trousers and hiking up the bottom of her tunic to show the dome of her belly.

“Well, if you’re offering,” he jested in kind, gaining the tight smile he wanted. “This will be a bit cold...”

“You weren’t kidding,” she winced as he applied the ultrasound scanner handset. “Where have you been keeping that stuff? In the bloody freezer by the feel of it.” She watched him pensively swirl it around the mound of unborn baby. “Is anything the matter? Is he alright?”

He peered closer. “He looks fine but there’s something else there.”

“Andy said that part of the metal pie dish went in there.”

“Meta crisis,” he corrected, trying not to smirk despite himself. “Why would there be a pie dish, metal or otherwise?”

“I don’t know! That’s what it sounded like. I’m just an idiot Earthgirl, remember.”

“No you’re not. You’re brilliant,” he lovingly crooned. “You are also to rest, so I’ll send Andy in with a cup of tea while I drop everybody off back home.” 

As he got up to leave, she grabbed hold of his hand to carefully ask, “Are you sure you want her to go?”

“I’m sure,” he reassured her. “She has a life to live on Pete’s world, and I’ve got you.”

“But is that enough,” she worried. 

He bent down and softly pressed his lips onto hers. “More than enough. It will be plenty when junior arrives to take over our lives, so get some rest. Doctor’s orders.”

She dutifully laid back down on to the examination bed. “Make the most of it. This is the last time I’ll let you boss me around.”

“Oh, I will,” he promised as he airily threw her a wave goodbye as he left.

“Daft Martian,” she fondly stated, letting her eyes flutter shut. Well, she might as well make the most of this enforced rest.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was the Doctor who led the way out of the TARDIS. His hand was held tightly by Andy. In fact the boy had insisted on going with him to offer moral support. “Here we are, Dårlig Ulv Stranden.”

Andy’s eye scanned the horizon, to emblazon this view into his own memory. “It’s…,” he faulted as he sought the right word to describe this desolate place, “cold, Dad.”

He couldn’t help the hummed laugh that broke quietly out of him.

“Fat lot of good this is!” Jackie complained from behind them as she too stepped out. “I’d better phone Pete. He’ll be on the school run by now.”

They also heard Rose gasp as she followed her mother. “We’re back here,” she angrily stated through her threatening tears. 

The Doctor was thankful that Andy had continued to hold onto his hand; it kept him grounded. “Back in your world,” he stressed.

“How dare you! Why are you dumping me here?” Rose demanded of him. “I came all that way to find you.”

He took a deep breath and felt Andy give him a squeeze. “You belong here now. Back in our universe you are dead. I never expected to ever see you again. When I spoke to you that last time, I told you that you cannot move through the alternate universes.”

“What, I’m being punished for having done that, am I?”

“Yes, no, perhaps,” he answered. “The fact is that you should never have tried. You have your family here.”

“And you’ve got yourself a new family all of your own,” Rose continued for him, glancing towards Andy briefly. The boy represented everything she was losing, and she hated him for that fact. “Couldn’t wait to get rid of me, could you.”

“Erm, no,” the Doctor denied, but Andy ruined it within seconds.

“It wasn’t right away that Dad went with Mum. Sort of,” he piped up. And then he took a step backwards behind the Doctor as Rose scowled at him. “It just looks that way,” he mumbled, wanting to finish. 

“You make a lovely family,” Jackie declared as pleasantly as she could. “I wish you had said you were married with a kid on the way,” she chided the Doctor; “made me look like a right plum by not knowing and putting my foot in it. Andy here is a credit to you.” She then smiled fondly at him, so Andy released the Doctor’s hand to let her hug him. “Look after yourself, and carry on looking after your mum and that new baby brother of yours,” she lightly ordered as she held him tight for a few moments. 

“Thank you,” Andy answered sincerely. “Thank you for all your help.” 

“You’re welcome.” She stood up again to say, “Bye, Doctor. All the best.” 

Rose could only look on with disgust as they hugged too. She wasn’t going to hug him goodbye. Blow him! It was all she could do to mouth the word ‘bye’ to him as he turned and headed back into the TARDIS. 

But as it began to wheeze away, she had a sudden change of heart and raced towards it to get back to him.

The TARDIS dematerialised, to leave her sobbing on the beach, completely broken.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was done. The metacrisis had manifested itself and been dealt with. Well, as well as could be expected, considering; which wasn’t very satisfactory at all. Andy sat obediently waiting alone, grasping within his hands the phone that usually sat in the console; donated by Martha, long long ago.

It had been really nice to see her rather than just feel her presence. She had been good for his dad, helping him move on with his life and release the feelings he had once held for Rose. If he had come into proper existence sooner he would have done his level best to shield Martha from all the hurt she had had to endure thanks to his dad’s thoughtlessness, but at least it was all over now. Much like his world felt like.

He sniffed, and then scrolled through the photographs on the phone again. Jackie had organised everyone to take photos while they celebrated returning the Earth to its proper orbit. Each photo had been uploaded by the TARDIS onto this phone for him to view. All the Children of Time had posed together as they laughed, giggled and shared survivor stories. And they all promised to come back at some point to visit him as he grew up; that is all except Jackie and Rose, of course. They would never be able to come back to this universe. But Jackie _had_ promised to tell her son Tony all about him, and she would occasionally think of him too, so that would have to do. 

As he scrolled through the pictures, he stopped on the one Sarah Jane had captured. She had said she would phone him soon with a playdate with her son Luke, although he didn’t know quite what that was and hoped it was heavy on the play and not so much of a date. What he’d heard of Luke sounded pretty good, and they had a lot in common, so that was encouraging. Anyway, she had taken a photo of him. Next to him, looking really cheesy, were his parents laughing at the camera. 

Spreading his fingers wide on the screen, he zoomed in on the image; courtesy of another upgrade the Doctor had provided with a flick of the sonic screwdriver. Inevitably he had brought up Donna to look at, and trailed a fingertip delicately over her image.

The main door clicked shut, startling him; and he hastily closed the app before the action could be noticed. Unfortunately the Doctor was in no mood to notice anything as he wetly re-entered the TARDIS. 

Moving on automatic, he pulled off his overcoat and threw it over a coral stanchion before slowly making his way up the ramp towards the console. He had to get away from here, was the only thought in his pained mind. He had to escape the deed he had committed. A heinous crime that involved ripping memories from his wife’s head; thus removing himself and all that they had been in order to save her precious life. 

“I miss Mum,” a tiny voice sobbed from the pilot seat as his father got nearer.

The Doctor had forgotten about him, locked as he was within his thoughts after taking Donna back to her mother and Gramps. “She’s with her family,” he gently explained.

The boy’s face grew angry as more tears fell. “WE are her family, not them! She wanted to stay here, with us, forever. How could you leave her there? Don’t you care?!”

“Of course I care, Andy. I care very much,” the Doctor supplied. “You’re too young to understand properly.” 

“TOO YOUNG,” Andy blazed, and wiped desperately at his eyes. “I wasn’t too young when Torchwood carried out their experiments on me, when they prodded and poked me, stuck me in a jar full of embalming fluid, and used me like a miner’s canary to find you. Nobody else saw me as anything but a thing! But Mum, she… she loved me for being me. The first thing she did was try to make me feel better. Did you know that she used to come out and talk to me when you weren’t around? I bet you didn’t! Said it was weird to talk to a hand that had once been yours, but nothing was sane where you were concerned.”

“Don’t,” the Doctor quietly begged.

But Andy wasn’t listening. There was far too much hurt within him. “She called me her own special Pinocchio, a real boy. You should have seen her face when I made the Dalek weapon; she was so proud. The best boy in the universe, she said, just like his dad. Well, I don’t want to be like my dad!” he roared. “I want my mum back!!”

“I can’t give her to you. I just can’t,” the Doctor cried. “If I did, she’d remember and die. I’m so sorry…”

As his voice broke on the last word, his son propelled himself forward, and they clung to each other in grief.

“Dad,” Andy cautiously pondered as the thought occurred to him, “do you think Mum will go and find Peter now?”

His hearts constricted within his chest at the thought, and he hugged Andy to him more firmly. “I don’t know, but I hope she finds some happiness.”

“Me too,” Andy murmured, and buried his face against the fabric of his dad’s jacket.

Was this what his life was now, the Doctor wondered; this gouging pain that threatened to pull him apart. He had a son with him for now but he had lost so much else.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** time to get things fixed; in all sorts of ways! In case you'd forgotten, I had a paradox to maintain.  
>  **A/N2:** the artwork is all mine; but I nabbed the baby hand pic from Google.

It was another day without her, another day trying to carry on while avoiding the emptiness of his bedroom and every other room in the TARDIS. Had it only been less than two days since those wonderful moments together in the Shan Shen market? It felt like eternity had taken up residence in his hearts; making the place its own as it unpacked and filled out the corners with nothing but emptiness. Not that his hearts were the only place filled with nothingness as he sat there.

The Doctor was seated in the console room, slowly falling apart as Andy finally slept in his arms. It was too much for him, coping with a grieving child who knew every single argument that festered in his mind. For one shining moment Donna and he had had every single thing they could have wanted with each other as their minds and lives entwined; and then the next second it had been ripped away, to lie in tatters at his feet. Every hope, every dream, gone. Such tragedy, he thought as he snuggled Andy closer. Why had it happened like that? 

He sobbed another held in breath, unwilling to wake Andy and break these few minutes of relative peace. But he was holding off the inevitable, left as he was to think through the events of the day; trying desperately to contain his heartbreak. It wasn’t working. All his thoughts kept coming back to the fact that he couldn’t see her anymore, his ginger bride; couldn’t hold her close, couldn’t kiss her worries away…

Eventually he found himself deciding that if he couldn’t have her back, then she deserved some sort of happiness. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to do something for her. After all, he had vowed that he would protect her unborn child with his last breath. And the baby was no longer his stepson but his bona fide child; he had another son out there, beyond the TARDIS doors. If he wasn’t allowed to be an active part in his life, then his son deserved to have a father.

But first he had to make sure Andy was well rested and safe. With great care he took Andy and laid him down on a freshly made bed; his bed.

Inevitably he snuffled awake. “What’s going on?” Andy had sleepily mumbled as the Doctor released his tender grip on him.

“It’s okay, it’s only me; Dad. I’m just going to pop out somewhere but I won’t be long, hardly gone at all,” he reassured the restless child. “Be patient and wait here for me. There’s a good boy,” he soothed, caressing his hand across Andy’s face.

Screwing up his face as he fought against sleep, Andy confirmed, “Okay, Dad, but don’t be too long.”

“I promise,” the Doctor readily agreed and hurriedly left the bedroom to go straight back to the console room.

The only definite placement he had for Peter Vincent was February 2008, so he punched in the coordinates, and made for a place called Cloverfield, just outside Las Vegas, Nevada.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was a good job he had told Andy to stay put inside while he walked through Cloverfield; just in case. He’d thought that the last thing he needed was for Donna to see him. As it turned out, he had been completely wrong.

The Doctor entered the TARDIS in shock. Why had she never told him? Why had she never revealed the whole truth about Peter? He had to sit down, he realised… He felt sick. 

For a moment or two the grating threatened to rise up and greet him, but he managed to fight it off. Thrusting out a hand blindly towards anything, he found the edge of the pilot seat and guided himself onto it. Once there he took deep breaths. His thoughts instantly went back to that diner and one of the most bizarre meetings in his life. In fact, the whole encounter had been bizarre, like some out of body experience. 

All the time that smug, filthy-mouthed... excuse my French, bastard had sat opposite him, and all he’d wanted to do was throttle the life out of him for stealing his Donna! Because Peter Vincent had stolen her heart long before the Doctor could have even acknowledged that he had wanted to. 

He laughed wryly and shook his head in disbelief. No wonder she had fought off his well-intended advances so much and for so long; she must have hated the very sight of him compared to that ponced up…

Now furious, he launched himself up onto his feet to protest loudly to the universe about this added injustice. But the angry tirade halted on his lips when he noticed a small body framed within the entrance to the main corridor.

“Dad.” Andy stood a few feet away, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, worry etched into his young face. “Did you find Mum?”

Somewhat reluctantly, he confirmed, “Yes, sweetheart. I found her, and saw Peter.”

“So you know,” Andy cautiously voiced, taking one step nearer, “about Mum fancying him anyway.”

Breathe deeply, he reminded himself. “Yes, Andy. Now I know and understand.”

“I’m sorry, Dad. So sorry,” Andy sadly commented as he eased forward and wrapped his arms around the Doctor’s waist. “Mum was really frightened to tell you. She didn’t mean to make you unhappy. She would never want that.”

The Doctor desperately hugged him back. “I know, son,” he bitterly murmured. “Let’s get you back into bed. I’ll stay with you this time.”

At least Peter Vincent would remember him after that little encounter, he told himself as he led Andy away. He’d made sure of that.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was the same dream again. The one he had had many times since they were left on their own; where he was standing in a field overlooking a lush green landscape somewhere on Earth. In the dream he heard a child cry out for him. Turning his head, he saw a woman silhouetted against the harsh sunlight, and a child. In fact there were two children holding the woman’s hands and another, taller one by her side as they walked towards him. He smiled as a little girl raced towards him, crying out “Daddy!” as she did so. In shock, he allowed the girl to throw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly; revelling in the warmth from her podgy young arms wound around his neck so lovingly.

The Doctor only ever recognised that the woman was Donna once he had hugged the young girl. This can’t be true, he decided as Donna stepped forward to kiss him; it just can’t. It was his rage at this point that always woke him up.

But this time as he woke from the recurring dream, Andy was standing by the side of his bed, his eyes wild with terror. “D-d-d-d-dad,” he stammered in fright.

“What is it?” he tried to ask as gently as he could, sitting up to encircle the boy with his arms to offer comfort. “What’s happened?”

Andy drew in a deep sob but it didn’t stop the tears from coursing down his cheeks. “I can’t feel Mum anymore in my head. I think… She’s dead.”

“We’ll go and find out for definite,” he vowed; but he broke down nevertheless for a minute or so. “Give me a moment to get dressed and then we’ll set the TARDIS.”

After a short time, he left by stumbling out of the TARDIS with a trembling Andy clasping his hand. In many respects he didn’t care where he was; he just wanted something to kill him, and to do so quickly. He did not want to find what they both suspected had happened. 

With a world-weary sigh, he glanced around the darkened landscape and realised it was incredibly familiar but not the place he had expected to be. In fact, the being currently walking towards him had more than a passing resemblance to…

“Hello, Doctor!” Wilf cheerily greeted him as he came into view. “Come to join me, have you? It’s a bit early to do a spot of star gazing, but I’ve got some sandwiches and a flask of tea to share, if you want some. You look as though you could both do with it. Is this your latest companion?”

“Er… you could say that. Thanks, Wilf,” he answered cautiously. “How did you know to bring extra sandwiches?”

Wilf rubbed his nose. “I was told to, wasn’t I? She said you’d both turn up tonight on my allotment, and here you are,” he supplied.

“Who told you?” The Doctor stepped nearer to the promised food. His unfed stomach growled. 

“Donna, of course!” Wilf chided him. “Are you going to sit down or what?” He bustled about opening packets, and screwing off the lid of his thermos flask. “She said you’d be here with a boy at this time, and I was to feed you before she did the thing,” he mumbled around a bite of his sandwich. “Most insistent, she was.”

The Doctor felt as though he was in a strange dream. This really shouldn’t be happening. Perhaps he was hallucinating whilst hanging over a pit of festering crocuses or something. Once sat down, he handed the still silent Andy something to eat and picked up one for himself. The sandwich tasted pretty good for a hallucination, and he bit happily through it. Eventually he knew he had to ask, “What’s the thing, Wilf?”

“Have your baby, of course!” Wilf happily answered; and laughed when the Doctor started choking.

“My baby?!” he exclaimed when he managed to breathe correctly.

“Well, I thought you’d decided you were having him together. That’s what I was told,” Wilf mused.

Andy’s eyes shone with happiness as he murmured around his sandwich, “I’m getting my mum and brother back.”

“Yeah,” Wilf agreed before the words sunk in. “You what? Who… Are you…? She never said you was hers.” 

“Then we’re not the only ones getting the best news ever,” the Doctor gleefully commented. “Wilf, I’d like to introduce you to your eldest great-grandson, Andy.”

“Oh no, that won’t do,” Wilf remarked as Andy stuck out his hand to be shaken by him, causing worry to appear on his great-grandson’s face. “Not when I can do this…” And he immediately engulfed the boy in a hug. “Hello Andy. I’m your Gramps.”

“Hello Gramps,” he greeted him in return as happy tears appeared on his cheeks.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Careful! There are ruts in the ground,” the Doctor called out to Andy as he raced on ahead down the hill towards the house where Donna lay.

But Andy was not going to be deterred from this adventure. There was the promise of getting his mum back and he was going to grab it with both hands despite any holes in the ground. 

“Like you, ain’t he,” Wilf commented to the Doctor’s side. “I’m surprised you ain’t running as well.”

“Ah… well… you see, I would have done but,” the Doctor spluttered.

Smiling knowingly, Wilf assured him, “Don’t mind me. You go on ahead and see my girl. She’s been waiting on you to turn up. Holding that baby in until you do, if I know her.”

“If you really don’t mind.” The Doctor waited for the nod of approval before he set off at a fast pace. “Out the way! Dad coming through!” he yelled to Andy as he easily passed him some seconds later.

“Dad! That’s not fair,” Andy griped, and doubled his efforts to catch him up.

Behind them, Wilf chuckled at their antics. There was no hurry for him to arrive back at the house. Although he’d be on tea and toast duties once his new great-grandson was born. His youngest great-grandson, he corrected himself. Doing a little jig of victory, he continued on his way.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was really easy to work out where Donna exactly was within the house once they’d opened the patio doors. Her grunts and groans of pain were only too plain to hear.

“There you are! About time, Spaceman,” she greeted the sight of him when he hesitated at the door to her room. “Well, come in then. This is your bit.” She held out a hand in invitation to him, and he quickly crossed over the small distance to grasp it.

“How did you know it was me?” he asked through manly tears.

“D’uh! Metacrisis equilibrium brought about by transmutation,” she explained.

To the side of them, Sylvia had to ask, “What does the hell does that mean?”

“The baby did it,” Andy supplied, panting in the doorway. “He’s taken all of it away by absorbing the energy.”

Sylvia visibly jumped at the sight of him, and then demanded to know, “Who are you? What are you doing in here? This is no place for a child.”

Andy’s eyes went wide in horror. “No!” he cried, jumping nearer to his mother.

“Mum, it’s okay,” Donna insisted as Sylvia moved to eject Andy from the room. “Didn’t the Doctor tell you about him when he brought me home?”

“No. Should he have done?” Sylvia wondered; still ready to chuck out this young interloper. 

“Oh, right!” the Doctor realised, and relinquished his death grip on Donna for a moment. “I explained about Donna being affected by the metacrisis, but what I didn’t mention was another result. From my hand came our son, Andy here. You have a grandson. Isn’t that…”

“Wizard,” Andy ended for him. 

“Now I’ve heard it all,” Sylvia sarcastically commented. “What about Donna remembering and the baby.”

“That’s another blessing from the metacrisis,” the Doctor explained. “He not only gained some of my DNA but it would appear that he has syphoned off all that unwanted regenerative energy to boost his own intelligence. Your new youngest grandson has saved your daughter’s life.”

“Really? Ooh err,” Sylvia faintly remarked, and slumped against the chest of drawers. “So this one’s really your son?” she asked, pointing at Andy.

“Yes, Mum,” Donna confirmed. “Why don’t you say hello to him.”

Andy smiled genially at her, trying not to imagine Sylvia as a thundering man-o-war bearing down on him. Edging closer to his father, he even added in a tiny wave. “Hello Nan. That’s if I’m allowed to call you that, but it might not be the case. I promise not to bite. Honest.”

A reluctant Sylvia told Donna, “If I must, but he’s a bit too mouthy, if you ask me.”

The boy frowned at her. “And you’re a b-”

The Doctor clamped a hand instantly over Andy’s mouth to stop him saying anything more. Sometimes the lad was a bit too much like his mother. “He’s still learning his Ps and Qs,” he excused his son.

To be fair, Sylvia did her best to hug the boy before her misconceptions overcame her. However the sound of Donna straining to give birth in the next second rather distracted her from doing more than telling Andy, “Go find your Gramps and tell him to keep you down there until it’s all over.”

He didn’t need telling twice to get away from his grandmother and out of there. It was bad enough to see his mother in so much pain again, and all without being able to hug her yet. But Andy intended to, very soon, when he could sneak up.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“He’s so small,” the Doctor enthused as he gazed down at their new baby; curling his finger around a tiny hand. “Perfect and as beautiful as his mum.”

“Geroff!” Donna blustered from where she still lay on her bed. She had Andy tucked up against her side, grasping her nightdress as though he expected her to try and disappear at any second. Fortunately he was now sound asleep like his baby brother. “Who do you think you’re kidding?”

“I speak only the truth,” he insisted.

“Oh yeah?” she dismissed. “Whatever happened to all those lies of yours, huh?”

“I know better than to lie to you,” he maintained, and couldn’t resist kissing the baby’s head. “It would be daft to risk losing you again.”

Seeing the sudden tears in his eyes, Donna reached out her arms towards him. “Do you want a cuddle?”

Nodding, he breathily replied, “Yes please.”

“You’ll have to put him down for five seconds,” she teased him. “And work your way around Andy. Can you manage that?”

“For you, anything,” he declared, and gently laid the baby down in a nearby Moses basket Donna had obtained, before crawling onto the bed beside her and wrapping himself around her body. “Thank Rassilion I got you back,” he murmured against her legs as he fought back the sobs that tried to wrench their way out of his body and soul. “I couldn’t…”

“I know,” she consoled him as he finally gave in to the emotional strain he had been under for so long and sobbed in her embrace. It was obvious that he needed her to comfort him as he muffled his cries within her lap. They had both been torn apart and this time together was essential before they could continue a life as a family. “I missed you too. You and Andy.”

“He was very vocal about it. We erm… we had our problems,” he confessed, being as understated as usual.

“A bit rubbish without me?” she queried.

He smiled next to her skin, breathing in her altered scent, and enjoying the entwined threads of timelines he could see emanating away from them. “More than I can say.”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The sound of a weird and loud noise had Peter Vincent rushing into his lounge to find out what the hell it was. The last thing he expected to find was a vintage British police phone box, but the mystery was instantly solved when the doors opened and two people he recognised stepped out, plus an extra passenger.

“Hello, Peter,” Donna cautiously greeted him as soon as she saw him. Apart from the shock, she was pleased to note that he looked well. “I have some news for you.”

“What the fu….,” Peter stammered on seeing them. “How did you do that? 

“Time traveller remember, Peter,” the Doctor pointed out as he shifted the small bundle within his arms, and looked around for somewhere to seat himself. “The last time I met you was when we were in that Cloverfield diner.”

“That was back in February,” Peter supplied. “Why are you here now, after all this time? Come to taunt me, no doubt.”

Donna risked stepping nearer to him. It was strange how different he smelt to her now. Every note had a new meaning; but his attractiveness was still there. Wanting to stay strong in the face of his coming ire, she announced, “I’ve just given birth to a baby boy. Just after I met the Doctor again, I found out I was pregnant with your child. So we’re here to tell you that you’re a father; his father.”

Obviously this news was not entirely welcomed or believed. There was also a great deal of hurt and vulnerability in Peter; just as she had suspected. This situation could go very badly if he wasn’t calmed down. 

Peter gawped at the Doctor. “Tell me straight… is he mine or yours? Did she shag me because I look like you? Is that the only reason? I know she was obsessed with you, but that’s beyond sick! That’s like a groupie or something.” He then turned to sneer at Donna. “You got what you wanted out of me, eh? A bit of the Doctor, or something you could pretend came from him. Well, you’re welcome to each other! And I hope you are both very happy!”

Donna stood her ground. “As I tried to tell you at the bloody time; I didn’t realise you looked like the Doctor until afterwards! You idiot! I told you we were being just mates when we sha…” Her eyes briefly glimpsed towards the Doctor.”…when we made love, and I was joking about sponging off you. I thought you knew that.” Her tone then turned more hurtful. “You left me in the middle of the desert, all on my own; and you wonder why I despised you. I could have been found and killed by those rednecks in the truck.”

“I tried to apologise,” Peter instantly butt in. “I phoned and I left messages. What else was I supposed to do, Donna? I was wrong and I tried to make it up to you, but you never let me. And then I heard you had run off with Wonder Boy over there, what was I supposed to think? I admit it; I went straight out and f-shagged the first bimbo I came across. Quite a few of them, actually.”

“Aw, thanks, Peter! You make me feel so special,” she told him sarcastically. “And to think I worried about you knowing.”

Peter then looked to where the Doctor was sat, cradling his son, and he just itched to storm over and wrestle the baby out of the Doctor’s arms. “Don’t be like that. I wanted to marry you,” he quietly said, ending on a self-conscious laugh. “Can you believe that?”

“Too late! I married the Doctor, several times in fact,” Donna told him triumphantly, and instantly regretted the spiteful act. “I’m sorry,” she said much more softly. “That doesn’t stop you being his real father; his biological father, I mean.”

Peter eyed his son wistfully. His own flesh and blood; he had a baby son. Some poor little sod that was somehow part him. “Are you sure?” 

So she reached out and took his hand. “I wouldn’t be here unless I was prepared to let you share part of his life.”

“I can see him, and hold him?” he asked, amazed that this was happening; and Donna nodded her agreement.

“I was wrong not to have told you as soon as I knew, so now I’m trying to make amends,” she admitted.

The Doctor stood as she spoke and walked over to Peter, passing the boy into his willing arms, before joining Donna to give her moral support. Together they watched Peter coo at their baby; already in love with this tiny being he had been given. 

Peter deserved to get to know his son, even though the boy wasn’t human anymore; but it wasn’t within the Doctor to be that possessive. He had what he wanted in this universe, and if that meant acknowledging the part Peter played in that, then so be it.

Smiling softly at Donna, he suggested, “Let’s leave them to it for a while. I have our own little surprise to arrange.” And with that he led her away to finish their honeymoon.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

  
  
Their little bit of stardust  



End file.
